A pensioner who chucked his old scratchcards in a box was horrified to discover after never winning that he actually spent EUR 400,000 over the years on his dream of becoming wealthy.

The 70-year-old man has now handed them over to a theatre director who is using them to highlight the fact that gambling is not only about the one person who wins, but also the millions who do not.

The OAP explained how he had always dreamed of the big win and was shocked when he realised he had spent EUR 400,000 (GBP 341,500) over the years on his dream of becoming wealthy.

He went public with the story as a warning to “gambling losers” to “let other players know what happens to those who chase the dream of winning that never comes”.

The 70-year-old had apparently decided to count the scratchcards when he realised he had filled nine boxes, he teamed up with theatre director Pietro Arrigoni in Brescia, Italy, who is now using them to publicise the dangers of gambling.

The cards have been divided up into bundles with each one representing EUR 1,000 (GBP 850) and the theatre director has in turn organised a flashmob live theatre event in the streets to tour the region to spread the word and raise awareness about gambling addiction.

The OAP told local media that he had “EUR 362,000 [GBP 309,000] of scratchcards for losers” as well as a further batch of different gambling coupons bought before 2002, totalling 90 million lire, or another EUR 45,000 (GBP 38,500).

Handing them over he said to the director: “Take them, spread these in the town squares and villages.”

He said that he wanted to raise awareness about people chasing “the dream of a win that never comes.”

He said that saving the tickets in the box he had hoped would inspire him that it was all a waste of time, but instead, it had kept him thinking that the next one must be the winner, but it never was.

He added, however, that handing them over and seeing them being used in public had finally done the trick.

He said: “Seeing my salaries, my savings, transformed into waste paper, I thought it might help me to quit. It was useless. But I’m finally getting help.”

Arrigoni, the theatre director, is working together with a number of theatre cooperatives to organise flashmobs touring the Brescia area in Italy along with his own theatre troupe.

He said he remembered that when the old man had handed the scratchcards over he told him to spread the message: “Life is worth living, not ‘scratching’.”

The UK’s Gambling Commission released figures last year suggesting that as many as 1.3 million adults in Britain suffer from gambling addiction.