The unusual story of a lottery winner who risked losing his fortune due to red tape.
A Nigerian man who had been living without documents in Italy won half a million euros on a scratch card bought with money he had begged – but could not collect his prize because he lacked a valid identity document.
After a lengthy legal battle, a court has now granted him residency rights, and the story has a cautious happy ending.
Imagbe Ehizomwengie, 36, had been living in the Pesaro area of the central Marche region without a residence permit when he scratched a €5 Gratta e Vinci ticket in November 2025 and won €500,000.
He had bought the ticket with money earned from selling handkerchiefs as a street vendor and from begging outside a supermarket.
When he realised what he had won, Ehizomwengie said he could not believe it, and wept. But the joy was short-lived.
Red tape
Without a residence permit, he could not open a bank account to collect the winnings, and without the winnings, he could not demonstrate the financial independence that might have helped regularise his status.
He was trapped in a bureaucratic deadlock.
Unable to claim the prize himself, he entrusted the money to a fellow Nigerian he considered a friend, on the understanding that it would be kept safe until he obtained the necessary documents. But the arrangement quickly went wrong: the friend began treating the funds as his own. Other members of the Nigerian community and Ehizomwengie’s cousin had to intervene to reach a resolution.
Under the eventual agreement, around €250,000 was transferred to the cousin’s account to keep that portion within the family. Those funds were used to purchase a business in Falconara Marittima – an African food shop called Mama African – where Ehizomwengie was to work once he obtained his documents.
Background
Ehizomwengie left Nigeria after being advised by his mother to flee obligations connected to a secret society led by his father, he told Il Resto del Carlino newspaper.
He crossed the Sahara, was held captive in Libya for around two years and released only after a ransom was paid, then crossed the Mediterranean by boat, landing in Palermo in the summer of 2016 before being transferred to the Marche region.
Ehizomwengie had arrived in Italy in 2022 and had his application for special protection rejected by the questura in Pesaro. His lawyers appealed the decision, and the case wound its way through the courts.
The Tribunale di Ancona ultimately ruled in his favour, ordering the issue of a residence permit on grounds of special protection, taking into account his good command of Italian, his integration into the community, and his complete absence of any criminal record.
“I’ve spoken to my lawyer,” he told Il Resto del Carlino after the ruling. “He told me everything is now in order. I’m happy – Italy, thank you. I like being here.”
