"'If It's Meant to Be': The Tale of a 1.6 Billion Won Lottery Ticket Found After Two Hours of Searching a Garbage Truck"

Mistaken Message Led Winner to Discard Ticket
Collectors Searched for Over Two Hours

In Italy, a lottery ticket worth 1 million euros (about 1.64 billion won) was loaded onto a garbage truck and was found in a dramatic turn of events. On August 4 (local time), AFP and local Italian media reported the recent story of a lottery ticket that was recovered after an emergency search through a garbage collection vehicle.

A lottery ticket worth 1 million euros (about 1.64 billion won) in Italy was loaded onto a garbage truck but was dramatically found. The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. Pixabay

The incident took place in Bitonto, Bari Province, in Italy's southern Apulia region. The winning ticket was from 'MillionDay', an Italian number-selection lottery. The winning numbers for the drawing held on July 31 at 8:30 p.m. were 2, 4, 8, 10, and 51. It was confirmed that the ticket was sold at an outlet in Bitonto. On August 2, the winner visited a local lottery retailer to check the results. However, when the lottery terminal displayed a message indicating "cannot be paid", the winner mistakenly thought the ticket was not a winner.

This message did not mean the ticket had lost, but rather that the prize amount was too large to be paid out by a small retailer. Unaware of this, the winner left the ticket at the store, and it was subsequently thrown away in the trash along with other discarded tickets. Later, upon being informed by a family member that their regular selection of numbers matched the winning numbers, the winner rushed back to the retailer. However, by that point, the trash containing the ticket had already been collected and taken away by a garbage truck.

SANB, a local waste management company, responded to the winner’s request and tracked the route of the ticket, eventually identifying the garbage truck carrying the relevant load. However, because there was a chance that hazardous or contaminated waste might have been mixed inside, the garbage truck was transferred to a specialized company for sorting. After more than two hours of searching through about 6 tons of garbage on the truck, workers finally discovered the winning ticket inside a torn bag at around 5:30 a.m.

Most of the other discarded tickets had been damaged, but remarkably, the 1 million euro winning ticket remained intact. Roberto Nicola Toscano, an SANB manager, stated, "Since the ticket had already been taken away by the garbage truck, there was almost no chance of finding it." He added, "We were able to identify the truck only after reconstructing the ticket’s journey." Toscano also mentioned that when the winner was told the ticket had been found, they were moved to tears of joy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.