Winning the lottery - a dream for many
On that day in November 2002, the lottery ticket that Michael Carroll was carrying, a garbage collector born in the small town of Swaffham in Norfolk County, in the east of the country, was literally a blessing .
When the 6 numbers of the National Lottery drawing were coming out, one after the other illuminated the face of the good Carroll. He was the only winner that afternoon, which he suddenly reported almost 13 million euros . For a guy born into the bosom of the depressed British working class, that is, a chav or polygonary as the low-class young people without resources, a little lost and poorly educated are called in these parts, this was a dream come true. But what to do with so much money? The blessing soon turned into the complete opposite.
The wanderings of a wandering billionaire
Michael Carroll responds perfectly to the cliché of the chav so well portrayed by the columnist Owen Jones in his book Chavs: the demonization of the working class . These lower-class young people, usually unemployed or on very low wages, constitute a subculture that has been frequently ridiculed by the media. Although with few resources, they usually show an opulent style with well-defined tastes , associated with an interest in appearing and rising as quickly as possible in the social ladder. Following this trend Michael Carroll soon earned the nickname of the lottery lout .
They say that he came to collect his winning ticket carrying an electronic surveillance device. He had been convicted of robbery and at Hollesley Bay Prison in Suffolk he learned to read and write. He didn't even have a bank account in which to deposit the millions earned and, although he had been recommended by the national lottery itself, the reputed Coutts & Company, a private bank specializing in overseeing millionaire fortunes, denied his application due to his criminal record.
The wishes of this young man with no future soon came true. He bought a mansion in the village to which he was adding a swimming pool and a Jacuzzi, a plot of more than 12,000 m2 that he transformed into a race track and his lifestyle began to be filled with luxuries, excesses ... and bad company too. When you ascend to heaven so quickly, the fall is usually very painful afterwards.
At the age of six months his wife with her young daughter abandoned him, and his eccentricities were increasing, which made him easy prey for the tabloid press . In this regard, Michael Carroll has on more than one occasion blamed the press for having built an image of him as a vandal and a quarrelsome. Although his behavior was certainly erratic, typical of someone who does not know what to do with so much money.
The city council even opened a direct telephone line in which neighbors could report Carroll's brawls , which were many. In 2005 he was arrested for anti-social behaviour after being found drunk throwing metal balls from his Mercedes, with the result of breaking the windows of 32 cars and shop windows. Public fights were also the order of the day. A few years later he confessed that he spent about 2,000 pounds a day on crack, the most addictive form of cocaine, just over 2,200 euros.
Despite the generosity he showed to his family: he left his mother, aunt and sister 1 million pounds each, he was squandering his fortune on parties, drugs, sex and cars. The blackmail and threats were not long in coming either . She reported in 2004 that 100,000 pounds worth of jewelry, almost 112,000 euros in exchange, had been stolen from her, which she rushed to replace the next day. In another incident, 5 of the rottweilers he had guarding his mansion turned up with their throats slit. Michael Carroll testified that he had to pay almost 150,000 euros to blackmailers to protect his family who had been threatened. You're not that big now, are you?, Mr. Carroll , the extortionists would have told him while they were pointing firearms at him. When he was arrested in 2006 and sent to jail for 9 months for being involved in a public brawl, the court highlighted his 42 recorded offenses.
For 2010 he wanted to return to his old job as a garbage collector having squandered his entire fortune. Although he showed no signs of regret. Losing the millions earned was the best thing that ever happened to him. “It will make me land back in reality after the roller coaster I've been riding for the last eight years” , stated in a interview with the BBC .
All that glitters is not gold
The life of Michael Carroll shows that hitting the jackpot can become a curse if you have not learned how to manage such sums of money. While many of us dream of one day winning the lottery , and the expression you've hit the jackpot it has taken hold among us to mean any stroke of luck, fortune can be a very bad companion. In addition to wanting to consume everything we aspire to as quickly as possible: houses, cars, luxury vacations, among other things, there are many false friends who are waiting to rob you as soon as possible.
Having moved to Scotland to be closer to his daughter, Michael Carroll himself recommended a couple who had won the lottery to disappear as soon as possible. You already know, really all that glitters is not gold .
