Ancona court grants residency to Nigerian lottery winner after decade in limbo

On June 4, a court in Ancona ruled that Imagbe Ehizomwengie, a Nigerian man who won €500,000 on an Italian scratchcard, would be granted a residence permit—clearing the way for him to claim his prize after more than a decade without legal status. According to the Guardian, Ehizomwengie had worked as a street seller and lived in Italy for years but remained unable to access a bank account, collect wages formally, or claim his lottery winnings without documentation. The Ancona judgment sidesteps the usual immigration pathway and treats the lottery prize as grounds for residence, a move that underscores a tension in Italian law: a person can win state-issued money but be locked out of claiming it by the same state's immigration rules.

The case exposes what the Guardian described as a decade-long immigration journey marked by hardship and legal contradiction. Ehizomwengie's inability to collect his winnings without residency or a bank account left him trapped in a bureaucratic loop—a condition that affects thousands of undocumented migrants across Italy who work, pay taxes informally, and live in the country but hold no legal standing. The Ancona court's decision to grant residence specifically to enable the prize claim is unusual; it suggests that the judiciary is willing to intervene where the immigration system creates absurdity, though it does not address the broader question of how many other undocumented workers face similar barriers to basic economic rights.