Bankrupt ‘Lotto Lout’ warns of the perils of winning the National Lottery
Lottery fever gripped Britain last week with one of the largest jackpots ever whilst in America, a $1.6 billion dollar Powerball caused a frenzy of epic proportions. Today, however, stark warning of the negative effects that come with a win came from Michael Carroll, a man who won £9.7 million on the National Lottery in 2002.
In comments to the Mail Online, Carroll – who subsequently lost every penny through living a profligate lifestyle – stated:
“The kind of money this couple have won is kidnapping money. I only had £9 million. They [David and Carol Martin, the couple who won £33 million last week] have got three times as much as me”.
“And there really are some people who will see it as a way of making money. Things went wrong straight away. I got my first death threat the day after I won and I’ve had thousands ever since”.
With a lottery win, undoubtedly comes the ability to enjoy the finer things in life but with it also comes a new set of problems. Jackpot winners would be best advised to tick the anonymity box and though living a lie and not declaring where such newfound wealth comes from, it can only be better than living under the constant fear of being attacked or even killed.
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The problem is that a moron like Carroll has no idea how to use the money, it’s like giving a Stradivarius violin to a monkey.He could have set himself up very comfortably for life with that win in 2002, if he had bought property in London it would now be worth at least 4 times more and he would be enjoying a substantial income.
The real problem is that the companies running these soft gambling games do not provide counselling for such people when they suddenly are out of their depth. Relatives appear – Unknown previously and death threats as he says in the article. Over a certain amount of prize there needs to be a ‘delay button’ so winners can re-consider whether they want privacy or publicity. I worked for an organisation which ran such s game so k speak from some experience.
Charles is right.
The good thing about life is that fortunately, most of the things that the very rich enjoy, are not the sort of things normal people enjoy. St Barts, thirty years ago, was mainly home to comfortably off and civilised French people. Now, rich riff raff plague the island.
Barbados has always been a bit like a hot Jersey or Guernsey and full of similar types. Best avoided unless you want to bump into horrors like Sir Pip Green, or Simon Cowell, or the sort of awful types who appear on those dreadful television shows.
Self worth therapy……
I just love him; he makes me feel so much better