Woman leaves boyfriend after ‘profitable’ lottery jackpot – then all of it went flawed
A woman who allegedly fled with what she thought was a €500,000 (£435,400) winning scratchcard to avoid sharing it with her partner was left empty‑handed after officials found it had been misread and was actually worthless.
A woman went from feeling incredibly lucky to utterly miserable in record time(Image: Getty Images)
A woman went from feeling incredibly lucky to utterly miserable in record time. The woman in question first disappeared with a lottery scratchcard, refusing to share the supposed €500,000 (£435,400) jackpot with her partner.
But in an incredible turn of event, she had scratched it incorrectly: the ticket wasn’t worth a penny. Back in March, in Carsoli, in Italy’s Abruzzo region, to mark International Women’s Day, a man turned up to see his girlfriend with a lottery ticket, Rai News reported.
According to the lad, they agreed that if they won, they would split the money. They scratched the ticket and the numbers 47, 29, 50 and 13 appeared.
The couple celebrated, convinced they had won an eye-watering €500,000 (£435,400). The woman went on to hand the ticket to a barman who, for reasons that remain unclear, confirmed the “good news” to the couple.
Things then escalated when the woman decided to keep the money for herself, 20 Minutes reported. She took the ticket to a bank to cash it in and vanished.
The man, who had only recently moved in with the vanished girlfriend, said he had seen it coming. “I’m afraid my partner wants to keep the winnings from the ticket for herself,” he reportedly told a friend before the incident.
The heartbroken man consequently filed a complaint with Italy’s financial police. The relevant authority reportedly carried out an official check of the ticket.
After properly scratching the numbers, staff from the Agency of Customs and Monopolies found that the ticket was, in fact, worth nothing. The couple and the barman had mistaken a “43” for a “13”.
The discovery ended the dispute: no win, no split, no legal action. As for the couple’s future, it is reportedly uncertain.
A similarly bitter row erupted in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in February 2024, after a couple split following a scratchcard win. Charlotte Cox and Michael Cartlidge were in a Nisa shop when Cartlidge tried to transfer Cox money for two scratchcards using his banking app, but a poor phone signal meant the payment failed and Cox paid at the till instead.
One of the cards turned out to be a £1 million winner, but the pair broke up just three weeks later, with Cartlidge insisting they had agreed to share the prize and Cox arguing it was hers because she had paid for the ticket.
Lottery operator Allwyn (formerly Camelot) later ruled the winnings belonged solely to Cox because her name was on the ticket, leaving Cartlidge with nothing.
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