Italian waste crew retrieves discarded €1 million lottery ticket for frantic winner

An Italian woman discovered she had won a €1 million instant-win lottery prize only after a relative pointed out her regular numbers were the winners. When she rushed back to the retailer, the ticket had already been tossed into the trash and collected by a garbage truck. Roberto Nicola Toscano, who runs the SANB waste-management company in Puglia, traced the correct lorry and arranged for a specialist team to examine its contents.

Over the course of a day, the crew sifted through the rubbish, finding various tickets and ultimately the winning stub, still whole. The winner was informed by phone and reacted with tears of relief. Because SANB is a public agency, the search cost would have been borne by taxpayers, so the woman agreed to reimburse the additional expenses.