Michael Carroll (lottery winner)
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Michael Carroll (born on March 29, 1983) is a former binman and former £9.7 million National Lottery winner.
As a multi-millionaire, the self-proclaimed "king of chavs," known by the press as the "lotto lout," immediately bought four homes, a holiday villa in Spain, two convertible BMWs along with two Mercedes-Benz cars, several quad bikes, and a stake in a football club. Sources close to him claim Carroll has also spent "untold thousands" on alcohol and drugs, wears a very large amount of gold jewellery, and has been in constant trouble with the law due to the drugs and other crimes.[1]
In 2004, he was banned from driving for six months after being caught at the wheel of his new £49,000 BMW without L-plates or insurance.
In 2005, Carroll participated in a celebrity boxing match where he was apparently defeated by Mark Smith, formerly a star of TV show Gladiators under the name Rhino, but the fight was officially declared a draw by the judges.[2]
Carroll proudly sports a tattoo of the Ulster Defence Association and, as a fan of Rangers F.C., invested up to a million pounds of his winnings in Rangers Financial Management, from whom the football club receive a share of profits on the financial services they sell. [3]. He has been banned from actually attending Rangers home games at Ibrox Stadium.
In February 2006 he was jailed for nine months for affray [4]. Carroll had reportedly spent almost his entire fortune within eighteen months on extravagant houses, cars for demolition derby races in his back yard, and gold "bling" jewellery. Recently convicted of cocaine possession, it is claimed he has only half a million pounds left.[5]
Shortly after getting released from prison at the end of June, 2006, Carroll was forced to take out a loan in order to keep his houses and maintain his lavish "party" lifestyle.[6] Reports say he is nearly broke, and completely blew his fortune on drugs, parties, jewellery, automobiles, and frivolous spending. [7]
Author Sean Boru has written a biography of Carroll's life to be released later in 2006 entitled Careful What You Wish For. Boru also went to Los Angeles to negotiate movie rights and to film part of a documentary about the book for the E! entertainment channel on a segment on "E! True Hollywood Story." This is to be aired in the United States in August 2006, and in Europe and the rest of the world in December 2006.[8]
In late 2006 it was rumoured that the "lotto lout" was set to appear in the new series of Celebrity Big Brother UK. However this reality TV news may have been twisted as fellow celebrity Rebecca Loos revealed she was in the middle of filming a new programme where she teaches Michael the art of seduction and good manners.
Michael Carroll stated that at one point he planned to secretly buy the winning lottery ticket from another winner for more than the prize value, just so he could annoy the tabloid press by "winning" again.
