He splurged heavily on drugs, gambling, and prostitutes… and wasted the rest.
One of the UK’s most notorious lottery winners hit the jackpot with £10 million but managed to blow it all within roughly eight years, eventually applying to return to his former job as a binman.
For many, winning the lottery is a dream come true, but the reality for some winners can quickly turn into a nightmare.
Michael Carroll, a binman, bought a £1 lottery ticket in November 2002-his very first time playing-and incredibly, his numbers won.
Winning on the first try is every hopeful’s dream, and at just 19 years old, Carroll walked away with a fortune that should have lasted a lifetime if managed wisely.
Sadly, he spent the entire sum in about eight years.
Labeled a ‘Lotto lout’ by the tabloids, Carroll began by gifting £1 million each to his mother, aunt, and sister.
He invested another million into the Scottish football club Rangers and placed £3.9 million into an investment bond.
He made several extravagant purchases, including a £325,000 mansion (noting how much house prices have soared since then) and £150,000 worth of gold. His car collection featured a new Range Rover, two BMW M3s, a BMW Z4 (which he later called ‘sh**’), and three Mitsubishi Evos.
Carroll openly admitted to spending thousands daily on cocaine, confessing he ‘started sniffing the world away’ and became a ‘full-blown alcoholic,’ beginning each day with ‘three lines of Charlie and half a bottle of vodka.’
His spending extended to lavish ‘Roman-style orgies’ where naked women roamed with trays of cocaine.
“In every room in my house people would be having sex. Women would just come up to me and offer themselves. The girls were naked, serving cocaine on silver plates,” he described his wild lifestyle that cost him up to £50,000 a night.
However, it wasn’t all pleasure. Carroll recounted waking up one day to find five of his dogs killed and his family threatened with blackmail. On another occasion, armed men with shotguns appeared at his home.
By 2010, the lottery winnings had vanished, and Carroll reapplied for his old binman job.
Later, according to the Mirror, he found work delivering coal and reflected on his experience without regret, calling it ‘the best 10 years of my life for a pound.’
“I don’t look back with any regrets, that’s for sure. I wouldn’t want to turn the clock back,” he said.
Fair enough.
