£9.7m lottery winner Michael Carroll lost all of his money in just eight years
£9.7m lottery winner Michael Carroll lost all of his money in just eight years
A man who won £9.7 million on the lottery but went bankrupt eight years later has explained how he blew through so much money in such a short time.
Michael Carroll got his ticket to fame and fortune in November 2002 when he won big on a £1 ticket at his first time of playing.
That fortune was supposed to last him a lifetime, instead he spent it all and went bankrupt in just a few years.
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Just 19-years-old when he won big, Michael didn't even have a bank account to deposit his winnings in, and he soon gained notoriety as a 'Lotto lout' in the tabloids.
He also ended up becoming a target for people who wanted a slice of his money and were willing to use violence to get it.
Back in 2006 he told The Independent he'd woken up at home one day to find his five dogs had been killed and blackmailers threatening his family, while on another occasion men with shotguns arrived at his home.
As for what he actually wanted to spend his money on, one of the first things Michael did with his £9.7 million pot of Lotto winnings was give a million quid each to his mum, aunt and sister.
That's nice of him.
He set up a £3.9 million investment bond, while he also invested another million into Rangers, his favourite football club, and says he bought '£150,000 in gold'.
Among his purchases with his Lotto winnings were a £325,000 mansion, which sounds pretty cheap for a house these days, 'getting on for half a million pounds in holidays' and a whole fleet of new cars including a new Range Rover, two BMW M3s, a BMW Z4 and three Mitsubishi Evos.
He also revealed that he was 'spending £2,000 a day just on cocaine' while also 'spending about £1,000 a day' on prostitutes.
By 2010, his spending had blown through his Lotto winnings and he reapplied for his old job as a binman.
Since going bankrupt Michael found new work in Scotland as a coalman and reportedly got back together with ex-wife Sandra.
He's previously said he doesn't regret winning the lottery as it brought him 'years of fun for a pound', though he did seem unhappy with the Z4, describing it as 's**t'.
Lots of lottery winners end up going broke like Michael, with one of the main reasons including the long line of friends and family who suddenly turn up hoping for handouts or have investment ideas.
It can also be confusing for the person who wins the money if they don't get quite as much cash as the big headline figure.
Many lotto winners can either get their winnings in regular instalments or as a big lump sum, and the after taxes a lump sum can quickly shrink to a much smaller pile of winnings.
Even those who try not to blow their winnings on a string of expensive purchases can end up running out of money as they live a more expensive lifestyle they haven't had any experience with.
Joe Harker