Woman Throws Away €1 Million Lottery Ticket, Refuse Workers Save the Day
- A woman from the Puglia region in Italy discarded a lottery ticket after a shop machine told her it was worthless
- A family member later told her the ticket was actually worth €1 million (about R21 million), sending her into a panic
- Refuse workers launched a painstaking search through hazardous waste to try and track down the missing ticket
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Source: Getty Images
ITALY - A woman from Italy's southern Puglia region nearly lost a life-changing fortune after a faulty machine at a local shop convinced her that her lottery ticket had not won anything.
After purchasing the ticket, she visited a nearby shop to check her numbers. The machine returned a "non-payable" message, so she tossed the ticket into a rubbish bin and walked away, believing she had nothing to show for it.
That decision almost cost her everything.
Shortly after she got home, a family member broke the news: her numbers had in fact hit the jackpot. She was a millionaire. In a panic, she called the shop to retrieve the discarded ticket, only to find out the rubbish had already been collected.
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Refuse workers race to find the ticket
With time running out, refuse company owner Roberto Nicola Toscano took charge of the situation. He tracked down the collection vehicle before it could offload its contents and had it redirected to a specialist facility, where workers began the painstaking task of sorting through the waste by hand.
The search was complicated by the fact that the truck was carrying potentially hazardous materials, which meant the process had to be handled carefully and methodically. The woman reportedly agreed upfront to cover any costs the operation might generate.
More than a day passed before workers finally found what they were looking for.
"Amongst them was the stub we were looking for, which was miraculously still in one piece," Toscano told AFP.
A €1 Million gamble that paid off
The ticket's survival through collection, transport and hours of sorting through waste made it a remarkable recovery. With the winning stub back in her hands, the woman was able to claim her €1 million prize.
The story has since drawn widespread attention, with many describing it as one of the most extraordinary lottery escapes ever recorded.
Ex-husband sues for R65 million lottery jackpot
Briefly News also reported that a Rhode Island woman walked away with a R65 million lottery jackpot and her freedom, after the state's highest court dismissed her ex-husband's attempt to claim a portion of her winnings. The woman won a $4 million scratch-off prize shortly after her divorce came through. Her ex-husband argued the ticket may have been purchased before their marriage was legally dissolved, which would have entitled him to a share under marital property laws. The court did not agree. Judges ruled that the ticket was bought after the divorce was finalised, meaning the windfall belonged entirely to her.
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Source: Briefly News
