Waste workers help winner find binned €1m lottery ticket
Waste workers help winner find binned €1m lottery ticket in Italy
- Level
- A2
- Estimated time
- 30–40 minutes
- Reading
- 1 min read
The story
A lottery player in Bitonto, southern Italy, accidentally binned a €1m ticket after checking the numbers in a shop. The player was told the ticket was “non-payable”, so they put the paper in the bin. A family member later saw that the numbers the player always used had been drawn and they realised the mistake.
The player contacted the local refuse company. The bin lorry was located before its load was compacted and the search started. The refuse company is searching the bin lorry before its contents are compacted. It took two days to look through a mountain of waste.
A waste worker found the winning ticket in a hole-ridden bag. Workers are cheering as if they had won the prize themselves. The company director said the story was “This story is nothing short of miraculous”.
The winner had signed a document to pay the cost of the recovery, so the operation cost will be charged to them. As a joke, the workers bought a scratch card and they won €50.
Key vocabulary
- ticket
- A small paper that can win money in a lottery.
- bin
- A container for rubbish; where people put waste.
- waste
- Garbage or rubbish collected by the refuse company.
- search
- An effort to look for something that is lost.
- worker
- A person who has a job, for example a refuse worker.
- found
- To discover something that was lost.
- shop
- A place where people buy things and where the player checked the ticket.
- load
- The full amount of rubbish carried by a bin lorry.
Comprehension check
Write your answer, reveal the model answer, then score yourself honestly.
1. Where did the player check the ticket numbers?
2. Why did the player put the ticket in the bin?
3. How long did the search take?
4. Who found the winning ticket?
5. Who will pay the cost of the recovery operation?
Grammar focus
Present continuous
The present continuous shows actions happening now or around now. It uses am/is/are + verb+ing.
- The refuse company is searching the bin lorry before its contents are compacted.
- Workers are cheering as if they had won the prize themselves.
Grammar exercise
Complete the sentences with the present continuous form of the verb in brackets. Use the signal words to help you.
1. She is (search) the bin this morning.
2. They are (find) the ticket so far.
3. The worker is (cheer) now.
4. I am (buy) a scratch card this week.
5. He is (sign) the declaration already.
Discussion
For reflection or speaking practice — not graded.
- Would you buy a lottery ticket regularly? Why or why not?
- How would you feel if you lost a winning ticket and then found it again?
- Do you think the winner should pay for the recovery? Why?
- What rules would you make for shops that check lottery tickets?