Wednesday, 9 Oct 2024

Lotto’s biggest losers – from winner who lost £10m to teen who had ‘life ruined’

Winning the National Lottery or Euromillions would probably class as the best day of your life – for most people, at least.

But once the champagne's been popped, the party dies down and reality sets in, things can sometimes turn nasty.

All of a sudden you've got millions of pounds burning a hole in your pocket. You're ready to spend it all, join the high life and the sky's the limit – but what happens when the funds run dry?

Several former Lottery-made millionaires have fallen on hard times having frittered away their huge winnings, here, we take a look at some of the most famous.

Let it be a warning to you if you're planning on picking up a ticket…

From £10m to £10-an-hour

Lotto lout Michael Carroll, 36, now works seven days a week ­carrying sacks of coal for just £10 an hour after scooping a whopping £10m in 2002 when he was just 19.

He spent his winnings on alcohol, drugs, luxury holidays and women, prompting wife Sandra Aiken to walk out.

Carroll, who once ­boasted he had bedded 4,000 women, said: "I’d wake up, do three lines of Charlie and drink half a bottle of vodka before I got out of bed.

"I was a full-blown alcoholic. I was doing two bottles of ­vodka a day."

But despite losing it all, he insists he has no regrets.

"It didn’t go wrong – it was the best 10 years of my life for a pound," Michael said.

"I don’t look back with any regrets that’s for sure. I wouldn’t want to turn the clock back."

The youngest winner now living on benefits

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In 2003 16-year-old Callie Rogers won the £1.8 million Lotto jackpot making her the youngest ever winner, but after blowing the cash on a lavish lifestyle she now lives on benefits.

She recently appeared in court on Wednesday (March 25) after crashing her Hyundai 4×4 through a farmer's fence in Crosby, Cumbria and tested positive for cocaine.

A court heard that after veering off the country road last December, the mum-of-four, and Jason Fearon, a man she was dating, fled the scene before being caught by a police officer who passed the scene of the crash.

The 33-year-old was pepper-sprayed by officers and refused to take a breathalyser but gave a positive cocaine drug wipe reading.

Rogers, of Flimby, admitted failing to provide a specimen and was given an electric tag for 11 weeks restricting her movements at night as well as a driving ban for 22 months.

Ms Rogers previously spoke out about how her jackpot win plunged her into a cycle of despair, with fake pals taking cash off her and a string of failed relationships.

The Sun reported that Rogers spent almost £2million on clothes, parties, friends, family and tag-a-longs.

Life 'destroyed' by losing winning ticket

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Ian Galtress, 46, of Deans Way, Birkenhead, bought two tickets for a Euromillions draw at the same time in March 2014.

One ticket was a single digit off matching a raffle code, which would have won £1m, but he lost the other ticket.

After watching in horror as Camelot appealed for a missing Wirral winner, he said he sunk into severe depression and later admitted four counts of theft at Co-op and Boots stores.

He said: "It’s ruined my life. I’ve lost lots of weight. I’m not sleeping because of the anxiety in me.

"I’ve got this permanent feeling of anxiety and nervousness in my stomach – I just can’t switch off.

"I feel like I have been ripped off, robbed, or kicked to the curb. I just want to rebuild my life."

Winning made life '10 times worse'

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Jane Park was only 17 when she bagged the £1 million prize with her first-ever ticket.

But despite going from living on a council estate to owning multiple properties, Jane later said winning the money ruined her life.

She told The People: "At times it feels like winning the lottery has ruined my life.

"I thought it would make my life 10 times better but it's made it 10 times worse."

She went on: "I wish I had no money most days. I say to myself, 'my life would be so much easier if I hadn't won'."

'I can’t go to Bolton anymore'

Jon-Ross Watson told how he was "depressed" after lottery company Camelot refused to cough up.

It followed an investigation which found Mr Watson, 31, and pal Mark Goodram had failed to use their own cash to pay for the £10 ticket.

Neither of the pair had their own bank accounts when they bought the ticket, at a branch of Waitrose on a day out in London during the Easter bank holiday.

Mr Watson told The Bolton News: "In a way, it has ruined my life.

"People have been calling me a scumbag and laughing at me.

"I am just depressed all the time. I can’t go to Bolton anymore, everywhere I go people laugh at me.

"All over Facebook, people are saying I’m a loser, I'm a scumbag or I'm scum of the Earth. People are calling me all the words under the sun."

The washing machine that had to go


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Susanne Hinte was forced to sell her washing machine on eBay after claiming she had won a £33million rollover payout but had accidentally washed the winning ticket.

She produced a tatty slip with no date or barcode to back up her claim and when lottery bosses refused to believe her, she said she could no longer stand the sight of her washer.

Susanne said: "I want to get rid of it.

"When I got home and saw it, bad memories came flooding back.

"Looking at it filled my head with dread. With it still here it just doesn’t feel like home.

"After all the trouble it caused, I want it to go."

'Greedy family ruined my life'

Gillian Bayford split with her husband Adrian just 15 months after scooping £148m on the Euromillions in August 2012.

It was then reported in 2016 that she stopped speaking to her family despite handing them £20million after the windfall.

Mrs Bayford, 43, claimed her mother, father and brother "disowned" her – but constantly "flash the cash" she gave to them.

The mother-of-two said: "It’s upsetting and raw. The money was supposed to make everybody happy. But it’s made them demanding and greedy.

"They have lost touch with where they’ve come from."

In March 2020 she also admitted a breach of the peace against her ex-lover – a domestic abuse charity worker.

The 47-year-old pushed, shouted at and struggled with burly Gavin Innes on two separate occasions in October 2017, Dundee Sheriff Court heard.

It was also revealed that the mother-of-two had been subjected to a horrific campaign of online abuse and false allegations to social work, her golf club and a children’s charity.

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