{
  "id": 178575,
  "title": "Waste workers help winner find binned €1m lottery ticket in Italy",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/05/waste-workers-help-winner-find-binned-1m-lottery-ticket-in-italy-178575",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-05T14:38:46.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/waste-workers-help-winner-find-binned-e1m-lottery-ticket-in-italy/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "An anonymous Italian lottery player may have been the luckiest individual in the country after his €1 million winning ticket was discovered by a team of waste workers. The man unintentionally discarded the ticket in a shop in Bitonto, a town in southern Italy, believing it to be \"non-payable.\" It wasn't until a relative reminded him of his frequently played numbers that he realized he had thrown away a winning ticket. This led to a two-day search through a huge amount of waste collected by a garbage truck. Roberto Nicola Toscano, the head of the waste collection company SANB, recounted the miraculous story, stating that the situation was \"nothing short of miraculous.\" The player's family noticed the numbers on the ticket after the draw, prompting them to retrieve the ticket from the waste collection company. The truck carrying the winning ticket was retrieved from a special site just in time before it was compacted for disposal. The recovery operation will be charged to the fortunate winner, who had previously agreed to cover the expenses. The lucky event even extended to Toscano and his colleagues, who purchased a scratch card as a joke and won €50.",
  "summary": "A lottery player who accidentally binned a €1m (£857,158) winning-ticket may be the luckiest man in Italy after refuse workers found the missing slip.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}