A lottery player in Bitonto, near Bari, Italy, came within days of losing a $1.15 million (€1 million) jackpot after throwing the winning ticket in the trash. The ticket matched all five numbers in the MillionDay draw on July 31, but the player misread the receipt and tossed it out. Four days later, public waste company SANB found the ticket intact at 5:30 a.m., just before the waste was sent to landfill.
The misread that almost cost a million
The player, whose name hasn't been released, apparently saw an error on the receipt and concluded the ticket was worthless. It wasn't. The winning numbers were all there. The ticket went into the garbage, and the player's chances of collecting the prize went with it — until SANB stepped in.
How SANB stopped the compactor
When the mistake came to light, SANB halted the compactor before the load reached the landfill. Workers searched through the trash and found the ticket intact at 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 4, four days after the draw. The company didn't say how many workers were involved or how long the search took, but the ticket survived.
What the player does next
The ticket is now recovered, and the player can present it to claim the €1 million prize. The lottery operator hasn't said if the claim has been filed. The player has to act quickly — lottery claims typically have deadlines, though the exact window for MillionDay wasn't disclosed in the initial reports.
