WINNER STORY · LOTTO
The binman who won £9.7m on Lotto at 19, spent the lot and says he’s happier now
Michael Carroll won £9,736,131 in November 2002. Eight years later he was back on the bins. Here’s where the money went and where he is now.
- Prize
- £9,736,131
- Game
- Lotto
- Draw
- 2 November 2002
- Where
- Swaffham, Norfolk
Michael Carroll was 19 and working part-time as a binman in Norfolk when his numbers came up on Lotto.
The draw was on Saturday 2 November 2002. The numbers were 5, 28, 32, 39, 42 and 48, with Bonus Ball 21. He was the only jackpot winner that night, and he took home £9,736,131.
Within about eight years the money was gone. By 2010 he was back on the bins.
Where the money went
A lot of it went to other people. He gave £1 million each to his mum, his aunt and his sister, and put up to £1 million into Rangers, the football club he supported.
- £3.9 million into an investment bond, which paid him a monthly income for a while.
- A house for £325,000.
- A string of cars, including a Range Rover, BMWs and Mitsubishi Evos.
- Parties, holidays and, in his own words, a lot of cocaine.
Even the private bank Coutts turned down his application to open an account.
The “Lotto lout” years
The papers called him the Lotto lout, and he gave them plenty to write about. He was given an ASBO in 2005 and jailed for nine months for affray in 2006. His wife, Sandra, left him in 2003, not long after the win.
By 2006 the BBC was reporting that he was almost broke. In 2010 he went back to work as a binman and said he had no regrets.
“It was 10 years of fun for a pound. You can’t go wrong with that.” Michael Carroll
Where is he now?
Carroll moved to Scotland and took whatever work he could find, including shifts at a biscuit factory and a slaughterhouse. He has said he was homeless for three months in 2013.
In his last big interview, in 2019, he was delivering coal and logs around the Highlands seven days a week, earning about £400 a week and renting a flat. We couldn’t find any newer interview, so that’s the latest we know.
“I live a good, free lifestyle now and I’m happier because I’ve got my life back.” Michael Carroll, 2019
What other winners can learn
- Get independent advice before you spend anything big.
- Put a large part somewhere safe and boring. His £3.9 million bond kept an income coming in while it lasted.
- Think hard about going public. The attention made him a target for the papers and for people after his money.
- Decide what you’ll give away, then stop. Generosity is great until there’s nothing left for you.
Our guide on how to spend lottery winnings has a simple plan for the first few months.