'Miracle' as lottery winner recovers ticket from 'mountain of waste' in 2 day search

A lottery player who accidentally threw away a €1million winning ticket has been reunited with his life-changing prize after searching through rubbish. 16:05, Wed, Aug 5, 2026 Updated: 16:07, Wed, Aug 5, 2026 An Italian lottery player recovered his €1million winning ticket after it was accidentally thrown aw (Image: Getty)A lottery player who accidentally threw away a €1million (£857,000) winning ticket has been reunited with his life-changing prize after refuse workers spent two days searching through a mountain of rubbish to find it.The anonymous winner, from Bitonto in southern Italy, mistakenly binned the ticket after taking it to a local shop to check whether it had won. When the shop's lottery terminal displayed the message "non-payable", the player assumed the ticket was worthless and threw it into a bin before leaving. However, the message actually meant the prize was too large to be paid out in-store. Get the latest news from around the world and more Invalid emailWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any ...