Binned €1m lottery ticket found by waste workers in Italy.

[Dreadboost]

Back then, when I used to play bets at a local sportsbook. I would write the ticket code on a piece of paper incase of I trash the ticket unintentionally or intentionally. Do lottery tickets have a similar code that can be used irrespective of someone misplacing the ticket? 

Had the lottery ticket not been found, that would have been the worst experience of their life. A life-changing moment thrown away out of pride and doubt.

[Patikno]

An anonymous player disposed of the ticket in a shop in southern Italy. They believed that it was non-payable after checking the number, so he trashed it. When the player returned home, their family reportedly pointed out that their favorite numbers had been drawn. They rushed to the shop together and discovered that the tickets had been thrown away and collected by refuse disposers.

After the player made contact with the refuse company, the bin lorry was located, and luckily its contents were not compacted for disposal. After a two-day search, the winning ticket was reportedly found by a waste worker, with the workers cheering as if they had won the prize themselves.

The lottery winner had signed a declaration promising to cover the search costs. I also hope he gives the waste workers a big tip.



https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62qvll0z94o

I think it is only natural for the lottery winner, to cover the search costs and tip the sanitation workers. Without their help, the winner likely wouldn't have recovered the ticket so quickly, or maybe it would have been lost forever. Sometimes, good fortune or a luck simply finds a person; it feels like a stroke of destiny. In any case, I admire the sanitation workers for their honesty and enthusiasm during the search; they even shared in the joy once the ticket was found. I think the winner’s way of showing appreciation was by sharing the same happiness he had experienced.

By the way, I am curious: doesn't the lottery ticketing system have a verification process ? That way, if a ticket gets lost, it could be reprinted using the assigned number.

[EluguHcman]

After the player made contact with the refuse company, the bin lorry was located, and luckily its contents were not compacted for disposal. After a two-day search, the winning ticket was reportedly found by a waste worker, with the workers cheering as if they had won the prize themselves.

Oh! First good they found the ticket, secondly instead the prize would had been voided due to unclaimed winner after the player losses the ticket and no where to be found but someone else luckily recovers it why don't you think the person that found the ticket won't celebrate?

The joy there you see in those waste workers was not literally like they are the rightful player of the game, the excitement about them is just the prize, they have already imagined themselves rich overnight. Lol.
I also believe they have also disbursed how much each in the payout.  

But in all, the ticket deserves to return back to the owner. And if I am the rightful player I don't mind making percentage deal with the waste workers for their endeavors in recovering the ticket.

[Obari]

An anonymous player disposed of the ticket in a shop in southern Italy. They believed that it was non-payable after checking the number, so he trashed it. When the player returned home, their family reportedly pointed out that their favorite numbers had been drawn. They rushed to the shop together and discovered that the tickets had been thrown away and collected by refuse disposers.

After the player made contact with the refuse company, the bin lorry was located, and luckily its contents were not compacted for disposal. After a two-day search, the winning ticket was reportedly found by a waste worker, with the workers cheering as if they had won the prize themselves.

The lottery winner had signed a declaration promising to cover the search costs. I also hope he gives the waste workers a big tip.



https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62qvll0z94o

€1m is a lot of money and a big tip for the cleaner who found it wouldn't be a bad idea even if it's a 5% or a 10% depending on how generous the winner can be wouldn't a bad idea because the cleaner can decide to make things very difficult for them and come to a selfish terms of 50/50 sharing ratio which might be very possible if the cleaner knows how best to go about the agreement and terms.

People are really impatient in recent times and I remember how I treat my betting ticket before going int online gambling because back then, I still hold my ticket like 2 to 3 days even after the final match have been played and this is because I've heard several stories how how people lost their winnings because of misplaced tickets and most of the local betting shop operators in my country might not even listen to you if you didn't have the bet slip of your game.

Congrats to the winner and maybe I hope same winning for myself someday

[macson]

Those waste workers shouldn't get a tip, but they should get a share of the winnings because they were the ones who helped find the lottery ticket. If the waste workers hadn't been lucky enough to find the lottery ticket, I think that man would have spent more time and perhaps more effort trying to find it, and there's no guarantee that the ticket would ever be found. He should be grateful to those waste workers for being enthusiastic and kind enough to help him find that lottery ticket.

[AmoreJaz]

Those waste workers shouldn't get a tip, but they should get a share of the winnings because they were the ones who helped find the lottery ticket. If the waste workers hadn't been lucky enough to find the lottery ticket, I think that man would have spent more time and perhaps more effort trying to find it, and there's no guarantee that the ticket would ever be found. He should be grateful to those waste workers for being enthusiastic and kind enough to help him find that lottery ticket.

Well, it is the prerogative of the person who really won the lottery. But of course, I don't think they will not get any compensation for their efforts. Such amount is quite huge that he can give a handsome tip to those who helped him. Luckily, it is not damaged yet. Just think of all the trash that has been piled up on top of other trash.

[Orpichukwu]

That guy is a lucky one, and as he was not greedy and promised to pay for the search whatever it cost them, it will also inspire those workers to actually help in searching for it even more than they could have ever done, and with the awareness created, it has also removed the possibility of someone seeing the ticket and claiming the reward behind his back. This will serve as a lesson to the guy and those close by not to dump the ticket anywhere until the final result is out; you just don’t judge based on the number combination you got.

[Cantsay]

Those waste workers shouldn't get a tip, but they should get a share of the winnings because they were the ones who helped find the lottery ticket. If the waste workers hadn't been lucky enough to find the lottery ticket, I think that man would have spent more time and perhaps more effort trying to find it, and there's no guarantee that the ticket would ever be found. He should be grateful to those waste workers for being enthusiastic and kind enough to help him find that lottery ticket.

Nah! This is not the case of them getting a share of the lottery. If you read the Op you would notice that it was the winner who contacted the waste companies, and then they got to work and identified the truck that took the trash.

I think it wouldn't be a bad thing to give them a compensation; a good amount should be enough to cover all their expenses and also keep them going, they really don't have to take half of it or make it seem as if they and the winner owe the ticket equally.

[alegotardo]

Wow, this is an incredible story!
Even more incredible is the honesty of those workers, who, after finding the ticket, admitted that they had found it and also informed the owner!
In many countries, including here in Brazil, attitudes like that are very rare, even though it is the right thing to do.

I also hope the winning family gives those workers a good reward, because winning the prize was only possible thanks to their dedication and honesty.

There is just one thing that wasn't clear to me. Was it the lottery retailer that said the ticket was invalid, or was it the winner who suspected fraud and did not even go to claim the prize?

[STT]

In his wealth he has the truly lucky chance to repay those who helped him.   Most big winners suffer the Midas dilemma where the cash can be overwhelming and ironically a burden to handle.    At least here he can start with great gratitude he lives with honest workers who wanted to see him do well and recover his lost fortune.  That goodwill is worth way more then money in a way though obviously having both is nice too

[bitbollo]

Definitely interesting that this story hit the UK and reach the BBC !
In Italy there is an huge problem with gambling - and this has become illegally to show like on ads /promotionals.
So they invented a new funny way to promote it by sharing in all way possible these news about "lucky" win.
It would be not uncommon to read on local news "important win" from the national lottery even for trivial amounts - 10-20K EURO.

[TedMosby]

A good piece of news, and I hope this isn't just for marketing purposes.

Most of the time, I feel like the universe is weird. It often works the opposite way of how we think. Like in this guy's case. He thought the ticket wouldn't win, so he threw it away. But it turned out to be the winning ticket. It feels like the more you want something, the smaller the chance you have of getting it. The same thing happens in trading too. You buy, the price goes down. You sell, the price goes up. Sometimes I feel like the price depends on these "activators."

BTW, I hope James Howells reads that news. Anyone here remember or know him? He's the guy who lost a hard drive containing 8,000 BTC [1]. He accidentally threw it into a garbage bag, and the bag was later taken away by a dump truck and dumped in a landfill.

Source:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_buried_in_Newport_landfill

[Darker45]

This story just made my day. It's a respite from all the familiar disappointing news that media companies are so fond of publishing.

There's a big lesson here. What's thrown right away was a lottery ticket that could make the bettor an instant millionaire. While it's more statistically probable that you're struck with lightning than hitting a lottery jackpot, it could happen. And it won't take much time and effort to double-check or even triple-check your ticket before throwing it away.

[Nrcewker]

This is astonishing news. It is also a true example of why we should be patient in every task we undertake. Had the person waited a little longer and not lost his patience, he could have easily claimed the lottery prize by now.

Instead he now has to wait a few more days, carry out a search operation, bear the search operation expenses and even reward the waste worker who found the ticket in the trash. It has truly been a roller coaster ride.

I am sure this is an incident the person will remember for the rest of his life. Congratulations to him once again.

[Bitcoin.com97]

At least many will definitely learn from this, I have a friend who doesn't dispose ticket even if it's lost ,he saves them for a month then calculate how much he has lost before trashing it ,that is always on a monthly basis,those that play in a physical casino shouldn't always be a hurry to trash ticket ,just that some persons are too aggressive that once they even notice the team they picked is playing otherwise they get angry and throw away there ticket, I'm happy for him ,that they found it , imagine losing such amount,and the lottery company will not be blamed after all, I hope he paid the bin workers who helped him in search of it .

[Dave1]

An anonymous player disposed of the ticket in a shop in southern Italy. They believed that it was non-payable after checking the number, so he trashed it. When the player returned home, their family reportedly pointed out that their favorite numbers had been drawn. They rushed to the shop together and discovered that the tickets had been thrown away and collected by refuse disposers.

After the player made contact with the refuse company, the bin lorry was located, and luckily its contents were not compacted for disposal. After a two-day search, the winning ticket was reportedly found by a waste worker, with the workers cheering as if they had won the prize themselves.

The lottery winner had signed a declaration promising to cover the search costs. I also hope he gives the waste workers a big tip.

Feel good story, I thought that it will end up like the James Howells story of Bitcoin. And it's good that the waste worker was being honest and didn't take that winning ticket for good. Although if will be a big news if suddenly he came up with the winning ticket and claim it for himself.

Yes, we can only hope that the winning will give the waste working the bounty for locating the said ticket. So everyone here is the winner. And truth to be told, don't throw our lottery tickets until we really check everything first.

[davis196]

An anonymous player disposed of the ticket in a shop in southern Italy. They believed that it was non-payable after checking the number, so he trashed it. When the player returned home, their family reportedly pointed out that their favorite numbers had been drawn. They rushed to the shop together and discovered that the tickets had been thrown away and collected by refuse disposers.

After the player made contact with the refuse company, the bin lorry was located, and luckily its contents were not compacted for disposal. After a two-day search, the winning ticket was reportedly found by a waste worker, with the workers cheering as if they had won the prize themselves.

The lottery winner had signed a declaration promising to cover the search costs. I also hope he gives the waste workers a big tip.



https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62qvll0z94o

You hope? Does it mean that the lottery winner didn't give the waste workers a big tip? If I was a waste worker, I probably wouldn't put the effort to search in the thrash for somebody's winning lottery ticket. The thrash company should've allowed the lottery winner and his family to try and find the ticket themselves, but obviously he agreed to pay the costs for the search, so everything is fine. I've heard such stories about lost lottery tickets multiple times. The lottery winner should've kissed the ticket after it was found in the thrash, but that would be disgusting. Also the problem with ownership comes to my mind. If something is thrown away in the thrash, does it belong to the thrash company?

[Italian Panic]

These stories always make me laugh, I just can’t understand how lottery tickets end up in the bin if you’re not sure you have won. He was lucky enough to find someone who helped him search for the lost ticket; otherwise, he’d spend the next few years in tears. Now they will split the winnings, that’s fair enough. They will have made a private agreement between themselves that will be honoured. If, by chance, it had ended up in a landfill, there would have been a massive scramble for it, just like with that story about the hard drive containing bitcoins in England.

[Grace333]

I honestly don't know why players take hasty decisions to trash their bet ticket when the final whistle has not been blown yet. You can imagine losing a €1m bet ticket after you've tried so hard to get something like that.
The waste team did an incredible job in returning the ticket back to the owner, I applaud them for that. I hope he gives them something tangible from the win rather than paying for search only.
If there is one thing to learn from this story, that would be; stay patient until the final whistle is blown irrespective of how skeptical you are concerning the result.

[mitchr4]

An anonymous player disposed of the ticket in a shop in southern Italy. They believed that it was non-payable after checking the number, so he trashed it. When the player returned home, their family reportedly pointed out that their favorite numbers had been drawn. They rushed to the shop together and discovered that the tickets had been thrown away and collected by refuse disposers.

After the player made contact with the refuse company, the bin lorry was located, and luckily its contents were not compacted for disposal. After a two-day search, the winning ticket was reportedly found by a waste worker, with the workers cheering as if they had won the prize themselves.

The lottery winner had signed a declaration promising to cover the search costs. I also hope he gives the waste workers a big tip.



https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62qvll0z94o

It turns out there are still good people willing to help search for the ticket. The winner should give some reward to the cleaning workers for their help, since he was also careless about it. If the search had been delayed, the ticket could have been destroyed and the prize lost. Just covering the search cost without giving any reward for their help would not really be fair.