Man who won £22 million on lottery is still working after almost 30 years to 'keep sanity'

The man who took home an eye-watering £22 million has revealed why he is still working almost 30 years on from his big win.

Once your bills, your family and your financial future are all taken care of, is having millions of pounds as fun as it's made out to be?

Probably...

But while the idea of not having to go to work ever again sounds like a good one, Lotto winner Mark Gardiner has opened up on his possible 'fear of the unknown'.

Mark won a whopping £22,590,829 along with his business partner, Paul Maddison, back in 1995.

The pair ran a small glazing firm in Hastings, East Sussex.

Mark has always remained wary of the possible side-effects of having overnight wealth.

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"The analogy I like to use is that, whatever was going on in your life before — all the little seeds that are planted — the win pours water on them all and up they all sprout," he told the Daily Mail.

"I always say to people that before I won I had a box of problems, but the box was quite small.

"The lottery enabled me to shelve that box of problems, but then someone came along and gave me a much bigger box."

But while business partner Paul did what most of us would do - and quit work - Mark decided to do the opposite.

"Whether it was nervousness, or fear of the unknown, I thought, 'I’m going to keep working'," the now 61-year-old explained.

"There was no lightning bolt. It was more a case of clinging on to what I knew. It was my safety rail and I thought I would take time to decide when I was going to let it go. Weeks, months, I had no idea.

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"One minute I had £11 and the next minute I had £11 million and, if I’m honest, I was probably frightened. Nothing prepares you for it.

"Camelot didn’t give us an instruction book, there was no manual, we didn’t go on a course; you’re given it, bang, there you go. It’s fairly overwhelming."

Mark revealed that ex-wives and ex-girlfriends were amongst those who were quick to ask him for money.

"It felt like every other letter I opened had 'We act on behalf of' as the opening line," he explained.

"They were from family, people I’d worked with, someone who thought I’d nicked their pencil case at school — basically, anybody from the past that felt a grievance.

"It was just so bizarre."

Topics: UK News, Money, National Lottery

Anish Vij

Anish is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2024 finalist. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

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