Imagine winning the lottery and not being allowed to cash the check. That’s what happened to Imagbe Ehizomwengie, a 36-year-old Nigerian man living in Turin, Italy. According to the Guardian, which first reported his story, Ehizomwengie used money he had earned selling handkerchiefs and begging outside a supermarket to buy a €5 Gratta e Vinci, Italy’s version of a scratch-off lottery ticket, last October. He scratched it off and discovered he had won €500,000. He wept tears of joy and relief, only to find that the celebration was a little premature.
Why a lottery win could not fix his legal status
This is the twist that Americans might have a hard time understanding. Ehizomwengie did not have a bank account, and Italian law demanded one to collect his winnings. He had no bank account because he had no residency permit. Without money in his pocket to show he could support himself, he could not strengthen his case for the permit. It was a bureaucratic circle with no apparent way out.
Ehizomwengie arrived in Italy in 2016 after crossing the Sahara and the Mediterranean. He spent two years in captivity in Libya until a ransom was paid to free him. Once he arrived in Italy, he applied for “special protection,” a legal status for people who don’t qualify to be considered refugees but who would be at serious risk if sent back to their home country. His application was rejected. Without the right to work, he got by selling things on the street, sometimes gambling on scratch cards for a change of luck.
