What the lottery means to Michael Carroll can be summed up very succinctly: biggest win and biggest loss. In November 2002, the Briton won more than ten million euros as a 19-year-old with six correct numbers. Eight years later he was a bankrupt welfare case and had squandered his entire fortune on drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, and cars. This is his amazing story. Before reading about it you can find the top lottery and non Gamstop casinos on Justuk.
A Dream Becomes True!
Winning the lottery online once – who hasn’t dreamed of it and imagined how life could change in jet-set style on luxury trips, in dream hotels and fine restaurants, and in the company of beauties on the cover photo. The dream came true for Michael Carroll, but the young man made the mistake of wanting to realize all his wild fantasies at once.
Destiny knocked on Michael’s door on November 2, 2002, a Saturday. It came in the form of six numbers: 5 – 28 – 32 – 39 – 42 – 48. Michael Carroll was the only one to match these numbers and netted £9,736,131, almost €11 million.
What Michael, in his delirium of happiness, did not yet suspect: the dream come true was to turn into a nightmare, cost him his wife and daughter, make him addicted to crack, and bring in death threats and all kinds of new false friends.
Life in the Fast Lane
Michael Carroll was wearing an electronic delinquent’s ankle bracelet when he collected his winnings. He didn’t have a bank account. He tried to change that at the London Nobel Bank Coutts of all places. She turned him down as a client, probably because of his criminal past. After his win, it turned into a criminal life several more times!
Carroll’s first purchase was a new six-bedroom home in Swaffham, Norfolk. Including luxurious extensions such as a swimming pool and a whirlpool, he shelled out more than €800,000 for it. He acquired an associated property on which he had a car racetrack created. He lived with his wife Sandra Aitken and their baby. It was less than six months before Sandra left him and her daughter.
His wife had had enough of the flamboyant lifestyle he’d adopted. After the loss of his family, Michael Carroll really went through the roof. He organized day-long drug parties and alienated the neighbors. Car wrecks are said to have littered his property as the remains of crash races. Large fires fueled by car tires were a visible expression of his passion for racing.
Carroll later reported that in late 2003 he was squandering more than €2,000 a day on crack and drinking two bottles of vodka a day. He also spent thousands on prostitutes. According to his own recollections, jewelry worth over €100,000 was stolen from him in 2004. Without batting an eyelid, he completely replaced it the next day with a newly purchased bling.
A Millionaire With Big Tally
After winning the lottery, Michael Carroll was sentenced twice to prison. In 2004, he was given five months for defying a drug rehabilitation order. In 2006 he had to answer in court for taking a baseball bat to a concert. The trial revealed that he had been sued more than 40 times since 1997. He served half of a nine-month prison sentence for a fight.
A dangerous act of indecency got him into trouble with the law in 2005 when he used a catapult from his car to fire steel balls at shop windows and other vehicles. He was sentenced to do 240 hours of community service.
Michael’s antics were a hit with the press. It became routine for him to wave the finger at reporters and photographers who showed up. He blamed the media in part for his troubles. They decided early on to portray him as a notorious troublemaker, and he in turn decided to stabilize that image.
Eight Years Later: Nothing Works Anymore!
In 2010, Michael Carroll needed the lottery again: he was bankrupt and had to sell his house at a great loss. According to media reports, the former luxury property was in a deplorable condition, littered, and run-down. Carroll revealed in an interview that he was ready for Hartz IV. He gave away more than three million of his fortune to friends and relatives. The bill for alcohol and drugs totaled more than a million and a half, while trips and cars cost a good half a million each. He had invested more than a million in his favorite football club, Glasgow Rangers. He later withdrew this investment and squandered the money.
Michael Carroll revealed all the negative consequences of winning the lottery. He had received the first death threat immediately afterward, and thousands followed. The money, he recapitulated, unleashed the worst in him and his friends. But he will continue playing, he said. “I’ve experienced more in a decade than most people would if they had two lives. I have no regrets and would do it again.”
The former millionaire had to bake smaller buns, moved to Scotland to be closer to his daughter Brooke and worked as a packer in a biscuit factory for just over €200 a week. According to his own statement, he converted to a healthier lifestyle and got rid of drugs.
The former permanent guest in the headlines hardly ever appears in the press anymore. However, he spoke up again when a couple scooped up a lottery prize of around €35 million. He advised the two to go abroad.
