A lottery ticket worth €1 million—approximately RM4.17 million using the original Chinese report’s conversion—almost disappeared with a truckload of rubbish! An Italian woman failed to realise she had won after a shop’s ticket-checking machine displayed “non-payable”. By the time her family alerted her, the ticket had been discarded and the rubbish collected.
According to an AFP report published by RTÉ on August 4, 2026, waste workers traced the collection truck and arranged a specialist search. After more than a day of sorting through the rubbish, they recovered the ticket intact, bringing this overseas lottery story to a happy conclusion.
“Non-Payable” Did Not Mean the Lottery Ticket Had Lost
The woman regularly played the same numbers because they were associated with a loved one. When she visited her local shop to check her ticket, the machine indicated that it was “non-payable”.
The message appeared because smaller retailers could only pay out smaller prizes, rather than the €1 million she had won. Unaware of her good fortune, the woman left the shop.
Back home, a family member told her that her usual numbers had won. They immediately returned to the shop, only to discover that the ticket had already been thrown away and the rubbish taken away.
Workers Traced the Truck and Searched for Over a Day
The woman contacted SANB, a waste management company in southern Italy’s Puglia region. Its administrator, Roberto Nicola Toscano, said they retraced the ticket’s journey, initially with little hope of recovering it.
Fortunately, the team identified the correct refuse truck and stopped it. Because the load could contain hazardous material, the vehicle was taken to a specialist company equipped to carry out the search.
Workers spent more than a day examining the rubbish, finding various tickets and stubs before finally locating the one they needed. Remarkably, it was still intact.
Toscano said the woman cried with emotion when he called to tell her that her winning ticket had been found.
Winner Agreed to Cover the Extra Search Costs
Recovering the ticket came at a cost. SANB, based in Bitonto near Bari, is a public agency, meaning taxpayers would otherwise have borne the expense of the search.
Toscano therefore had the woman sign a commitment to cover all additional costs incurred. The report did not disclose the amount.
What began as a misunderstood machine message became a desperate search through collected rubbish. Fortunately, the woman’s million-euro prize was recovered before the ticket was lost for good.
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