Naples Shop Owner Steals Old Lady’s Half A Million Winning Ticket

OLDER WOMAN IN NAPLES WINS 500,000 EURO SCRATCH OFF LOTTERY, SHOP OWNER STEALS IT AND RUNS

I must admit that this is a new one for me. I’ve heard all sorts of stories about people stealing group lottery tickets and hitting the road. But I’ve never heard of a shop owner verifying a winning ticket and then literally running away. That’s the story coming out of Naples, Italy. An old, or older, lady finally found her lucky day when she played a “scratch and win” lottery ticket. But naturally, she couldn’t believe her luck and wanted confirmation it was the real deal. And in this case, the real deal was a half a million Euros. But when the tobacco shop owner verified the winning ticket, he ran away to his scooter and literally took off.

TOBACCO SHOP OWNER VERIFIED THE WINNER, AND SAW AN OPPORTUNITY OF HIS OWN

So to make things simpler about the money here, half a million Euros is about $580,000 USD. For pretty much 97% of the world, that there is a total change in economic circumstance. So when the man simply ran out of the shop and took off, it left the poor older woman wondering about her fellow man’s basic sense of decency. But there’s a nuance here to the story. The woman gave the winning ticket to a staff person who then passed it on to the owner to verify it. Once the tobacco shop owner did just that, he simply ran away.

AUTHORITIES CAUGHT MAN LEAVING FOR CANARY ISLANDS, BUT WINNING TICKET STILL MISSING

So this story isn’t over yet, of course. There’s some good news and not so good news. Authorities did catch the tobacco shop owner at an airport in Rome. He was trying to fly to Fuerteventura, which is a Spanish Canary Island. But the not so good news is that he did not have the scratch and win card with him. Police arrested him and he is already out on his own recognizance. Hopefully, the woman will be able to recover her winning ticket and enjoy a few years of vacation. But my guess is the owner mailed the ticket to Fuerteventura.