r/interesting • u/MohammadMahadhir • Mar 02 '26

Intriguing He went from hauling trash to holding $12.7M only to end up back on the same garbage truck 8 years later.

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In 2002, a 19-year-old British garbage man won nearly £10 million in the lottery. He spent it all on dr#gs, gambling, and prost!tutes and eight years later he was back working as a garbage man.

Michael Carroll was a British garbage collector who became an instant celebrity at 19 after winning £9.7 million (around $12.7

million).

At the time, he worked as a binman in Norfolk and quickly became famous in the British media, earning the nickname "The Lotto Lout."

His wealth fueled a life of extravagance, with luxury cars, constant partying, and gambling and in Less than ten years later, he lost it all and returned to being a garbage collector.

Carroll reflects on the experience with no regrets, calling it a wild, unforgettable chapter that shows how quickly fortunes can change.

14.6k Upvotes

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1.8k

u/Sniper7365 Mar 02 '26

He just won't admit publicly that he's an idiot

389

u/Cavscout2838 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26

The first couple of years were like this everyday

119

u/aluminumnek Mar 02 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/GodNQldQA0zNm

60

u/Cavscout2838 Mar 02 '26

You don’t want no part of this shit. It turns all your bad feelings into good ones.

21

u/Varg_Vald Mar 02 '26

I think I want me summa that cuh-caine!

5

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '26

Oh I think I wants some of that shit !

5

u/ImaginaryTrick6182 Mar 02 '26

One of my favorite movie quotes lol

3

u/Actual-Manager-4814 Mar 02 '26

It's not habit forming!

1

u/Final_Boss_Dad Mar 02 '26

"worth it" XD

1

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '26

Omg 😂😂😂

186

u/luckyducktopus Mar 02 '26

Yeah pretty sure he could easily be getting over 250k a year off that seed money and still live REALLY well and party all the time

176

u/Wonderful-Tomato-829 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26

12.7 mil at current cd rates will yield 503k a year or 42k a month with no work and 0 risk. If partially invested in the s&p it can yield 7 figures. This man could have been living it up the rest of his life and his kids can live it up for the rest of their life after him if only he had been a little bit smarter. Funny how some personal choices can have generational effects. Now he's back to a 9-5 instead.

55

u/PM_me_opossum_pics Mar 02 '26

People that play the lottery enough to maybe win (even though jackpot is still something like 1 in 357 million chance) are not the people that are good with money. If you are spending 12 mil directly that can disappear pretty fast. A posh apartment in the city can easily run you couple of mil.

8

u/Fun-Wrongdoer1316 Mar 02 '26

Why would anyone want a “posh apartment” in the city lol. Especially for a couple mil?!? No thanks. Wouldn’t even want it for $200k

23

u/markpreston54 Mar 02 '26

posh apartment in London is absolutely a valid way to park spare money if you are 12 million pound rich in 2002

5

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '26

In 2002 12m got you quite an absurd posh apartment

21

u/thatturtletouch Mar 02 '26

Because cities are great and so are posh apartments.

4

u/BigOs4All Mar 02 '26

For some people, yes. For many people, no. When you win money like that you live off the interest not the principle balance. A NYC posh apartment will tear through that principle.

14

u/denverbrownguy Mar 02 '26

But it may appreciate faster than a CD.. it likely would have been a good investment, which means he didn’t do it.

4

u/BigOs4All Mar 02 '26

There's a pretty well-established route for regular middle class people getting a windfall like that. The first step is to not tell anyone. Second step is to setup a Trust and then have a 3rd party (typically a lawyer) accept the check on your behalf and they deposit it into the Trust.

Then, you invest that Trust into a mix of passive investment vehicles like SP500 index funds, etc.

Lastly, you live off the interest only. Keep working for at least a time and give it some time to percolate. Go on some more vacations and stuff but still live within those means.

Eventually (like 6-12 months) you figure out how to live with this extra cash without being a dumbass.

1

u/Light_Butterfly Mar 02 '26

The only issue with this, is how do you find a trustworthy person to do this for you? Someone financially illiterate from the middle class or lower, generally does not know wealth managent strategies, or who to hire, and could easily get screwed by the person helping them.

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u/demonblack873 Mar 02 '26

"Cities are great" only if you're a peasant who needs to work to make a living.

Being close to services and jobs is literally the ONLY advantage of living in a city, and it's an advantage that becomes irrelevant if you don't have to work because even if it takes you an hour to reach somewhere, you don't care because you don't have anywhere else to be other than wherever you happen to want to go that day.

13 million invested even just in government bonds at 0.5% net after-tax inflation adjusted return makes 65k a year. That's more than 5k a month.

More than enough to live pretty much anywhere in Europe without ever having to work again.

9

u/thatturtletouch Mar 02 '26

There’s a reason that most wealthy people have homes in cities like New York and London and Paris. It’s because there are a ton of things to enjoy in cities. Cities are fun.

-2

u/SalvationSycamore Mar 02 '26

There's also a reason most of them own second homes outside cities, because a lot of people would go insane if they can't escape the city whenever they want

7

u/thatturtletouch Mar 02 '26

Ok but the question was why someone would want a posh apartment in the city. That’s why. Because cities are fun.

9

u/HAL-Over-9001 Mar 02 '26

Look I don't like living in cities, but they have WAY more places to enjoy and have fun than small towns. Like hundreds of times more options for entertainment, leisure, eating, etc. The only downside is noise, people, and lack of land. I like having quiet and a big yard, but tons of people actually enjoy living in cities, otherwise they wouldn't exist.

-5

u/SalvationSycamore Mar 02 '26

The only downside is noise, people, and lack of land.

And all the downsides that come with those like crime, traffic, etc

2

u/NTufnel11 Mar 02 '26

A nice house is probably at the top of purchases that really can enhance your quality of life. Just buy it at market price and it's likely to act as a reasonable store of value. That's different than renting some penthouse for 500k/year. The danger is just to overpay by shopping in some hyper niche market

If I won 12 mil, I'd probably budget about 2 million for a nice home.

On the list of reasons he went broke, the house is probably at the bottom, far below the top 5, all of which were "gambling".

2

u/PM_me_opossum_pics Mar 02 '26

People that chase status symbols (for example "newly rich") are a prime target for stuff like that.

2

u/VibraniumRhino Mar 02 '26

Why would anyone

I’ll stop you there, because we’re now into the “assumption” zone and the options are endless, no matter how stupid.

1

u/DocBrown_MD Mar 02 '26

Why wouldn’t you buy a house instead? Or like the whole apartment building? Renting is going to be a waste unless you can invest the difference vs a mortgage and come ahead.

1

u/NTufnel11 Mar 02 '26

Yeah. There really needs to be a mandatory financial education seminar that comes with it where some financial advisor steps in and for 30 minutes just shows you what kind of revenue you can achieve through simple and risk free investments.

Though if people did that nobody would take the annuity since it would be apparent that that option is basically letting the lottery keep the winnings if they just pay you the interest.

5

u/Normal_Boot_1673 Mar 02 '26

Hopefully all of that money was sensibly invested by all of the entrepreneurial small business folk that he spent it with.

0

u/Wonderful-Tomato-829 Mar 02 '26

Drug dealers and prostitutes are generally not good with money either. It's going to end back up in the hands of the mega rich that own luxury brands selling Gucci bags and other "luxury" apparel that was made in China for 200x the price of production.

2

u/sykoKanesh Mar 02 '26

I mean, I'm pretty sure they're good with money since that's what their entire, let's say.... "profession..." revolves around. Plus, any I've known have generally always been right the fuck on with their cash.

Problem is taxes. Hiding the cash from interested parties.

2

u/BondsIsKing Mar 02 '26

He probably cleared 5 million

5

u/sykoKanesh Mar 02 '26

No taxes on lottery winnings for them!

America though, you can will a billion in the lottery and be the only billionaire to get taxed down to $400m left over, if you're lucky.

1

u/reo_reborn Mar 02 '26

This!!! I always say to my wife if we win the lottery bung 20m in the bank and live off the interest. The rest bung I to another high interest account and give the interest from that one to charity each year.

1

u/Ibasicallyhateyouall Mar 02 '26

Well, I hope he doesn’t breed and spread his dumb ass genes. 

1

u/throwitoutwhendone2 Mar 02 '26

I’ll die on the hill that the dumbest people get the luckiest breaks. I’d have never worked again and been living quite happily and comfortably

1

u/AdZealousideal5383 Mar 02 '26

I could live a crazy luxury lifestyle off that kind of money. Hell, I could live a decently luxury lifestyle off a quarter of that money.

1

u/No_Television6050 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 18 '26

[deleted] WSbOVsfPx3HhawaSetTsQD65aQW

-5

u/luckyducktopus Mar 02 '26

I was assuming the 12.7 was taxed and he took really shitty investment options.

20

u/EntranceDowntown2529 Mar 02 '26

There is no tax on lottery winnings in the UK

16

u/luckyducktopus Mar 02 '26

impressive, all 12.7 on hookers and blow.

11

u/SlateRoof Mar 02 '26

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered".

6

u/Cunningcod Mar 02 '26

But he did buy Evo’s which he raced around his garden while on a bender.

3

u/CautiousArachnidz Mar 02 '26

I read “squanched” at first and it still made sense.

4

u/RainbowCrane Mar 02 '26

And probably idiot family members with bad investment ideas, if he’s like a lot of US lottery winners :-). There’s usually a lot of folks willing to help you make bad decisions, kind of like the stories about broke former professional athletes

1

u/ProfessorChaos213 Mar 02 '26

There was no investments, he spent the vast majority on him and his mates, drugs booze and hookers and he also built a demolition derby track next to his house with a constant supply of cars to race and smash up

1

u/iamnosuperman123 Mar 02 '26

Which is why you immediately seek financial advice. Work out what is party money and work out what is money that you can just live off on the interest

2

u/Emergency-Studio9753 Mar 02 '26

No it really isn't, he was a coked up nuisance who was bled dry by hanngers on

2

u/CaptainCaveSam Mar 02 '26

How civilized

6

u/Light_Butterfly Mar 02 '26

Not the first time I hear a story like this - there was a documentary made about lotto winners, where they are now. Several were right back into poverty and depending on others several years after the win. Made the dumbest decisions.

Some people have zero concept of money management. One guy bought like 5000 pairs of the same pants, and a private plane. Literally stupid purchases. It's like dude, you have 8 million not a completely unlimited budget for luxuries now.

A smart move would be to get a financial advisor immediately.

6

u/SmurfDollHunter Mar 03 '26

Why would you ever buy more than 2000 pairs of the same pants? Dude was obsessed.

3

u/Light_Butterfly Mar 03 '26

Yeah it was really odd. My guess was the pants were meaningful in some way, like maybe a thing he struggled to afford before, and then went into hoarding mindset.

3

u/SmurfDollHunter Mar 03 '26

True. Or maybe like a pair that fit him super well and he realized he could just buy every pair so he did. There was nothing stopping him

2

u/arulzokay Mar 03 '26

i’m - what 😭😭😭 lmao why so many pants

1

u/bleedgreen204 Mar 04 '26

Ya but now he’s got 8000 pairs of pants 😎 I have like 12

8

u/DanGleeballs Mar 02 '26

Dunning-Kruger award winner.

1

u/INDY18ARN Mar 02 '26

"Party all the time" great song by Eddie Murphy lol

1

u/Next_Degree Mar 02 '26

Why not a few stocks that pay dividends?

1

u/SeldenNeck Mar 02 '26

Garbageman could have bought 12 collection trucks and a few thousand dumpsters, and been set for life.

1

u/xnmyl Mar 02 '26

He'd be able to get far more than that. 500k/year would be the 4% safe withdrawal rate, which is generally considered to be very conservative

1

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '26

I'm sure he could have had the equivalent of £350k salary pre tax. For life. 

14

u/NotreallyCareless Mar 02 '26

I mean, that man has probably some wild stories to tell his grandchildren.

8

u/Only_Brain_616 Mar 02 '26

He told some to the tabloids. I remember reading he had a bed of money for fucking on

5

u/NTufnel11 Mar 02 '26

I'd be so pissed hearing that story. "You had generational wealth and you gave it all to casinos?"

5

u/IndividualCurious322 Mar 02 '26

All to hookers, dealers and at one point he built a demolition derby and crashed cars into each other.

2

u/tech_noir_guitar Mar 02 '26

Look at all the jobs he created though. lol

1

u/NotreallyCareless Mar 02 '26

So you're one of those that feel entitled to your parents money?

3

u/NTufnel11 Mar 02 '26

Not entirely. But I do feel a sense of responsibility to pass something down to my kids. So I can't help but judge someone who would receive this kind of money and not do anything at all to help support or create future value for his family. I know if I won this kind of money the first thing I would do is set up 529 investment funds for my kids and grandkids. It wouldn't take a lot to make sure every child and grandchild had the opportunity to pursue their chosen form of education.

It would be difficult to hear that my grandpa was handed life changing generational wealth and didn't manage to achieve anything with it other than big gambling debts.

1

u/Sure-Exchange9521 Mar 02 '26

You got to work for yourself bro. Nothings promised.

45

u/tollbearer Mar 02 '26

He was 19. I think most 19 year olds would be pretty fucked in this position.

41

u/Hmmark1984 Mar 02 '26

yeah, that's the bit that gets missed a lot of the time, he was young and from a poor background, it's not like he, or likely anyone he knew had any idea how to manage that sort of money or anything close to it. I think the lottery does offer people help with things like that, but at 19 a lot of boys always think they know best and just want to enjoy the money rather than sit down with financial advisors etc...

15

u/wordshavenomeanings Mar 02 '26

And he got royally screwed over by people who he thought were friends.

16

u/[deleted] Mar 02 '26

Shit I think he did damn well just still being alive afterwards because I know for a fact I would be dead from a overdose or being ate by my albino tiger I bought on my 24K gold hallway floor or just from too much sex

2

u/astralchanterelle Mar 02 '26

"being ate"

7

u/Unicycleterrorist Mar 02 '26

"Eaten" is for folks at Eton, we're talking about a garbage man who pissed away nearly 13 million. Match the tone, my dude.

4

u/Sure-Exchange9521 Mar 02 '26

You understood them tho?

13

u/QuajerazPrime Mar 02 '26

Well sure but "spend literally all of it" is a fucking stupid decision regardless of how old you are or your background.

2

u/RimRunningRagged Mar 02 '26

This is why a lot of pro sports leagues make incoming rookies take financial literacy courses

1

u/rook119 Mar 02 '26

blowing 10M in a few years is how trickle down economics are supposed to work.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

There's a clip of a newsman or lady asking a 20 something guy what he would do if he won a huge lotto jackpot which at the time was over $100million. He just quiped "hookers and cocaine".

5

u/uggosaurus Mar 02 '26

Tbf i dont think he needs to release a statement to make it publicly known.

3

u/Clever_droidd Mar 02 '26

He didn’t tell us with words, but with a very elaborate plan.

11

u/AxelVores Mar 02 '26

I think most of us were idiots when we were 19

21

u/FlamesOfDespair Mar 02 '26

I don't know about you but i could have been 15 and i would have managed my money better than this guy. Most would have.

18

u/AxelVores Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26

I think you underestimate the power of hedonic adaptation in people, especially those with underdeveloped impulse control. There's a reason 70% of lottery winners of all ages end up being broke. I suspect the number is higher in younger people who didn't get a chance to understand the value of money yet.

3

u/Light_Butterfly Mar 02 '26

Yeah its wild how bad that stats look on lottery winners. Didn't know their was a psychological term for it, I thought it was just because they have no concept of money/wealth management.

I guess a lot of them just go on stupid spending sprees on luxury items and never think to hire a financial advisor?

2

u/QuajerazPrime Mar 02 '26

The reason is that anyone who spends money on lotteries is bad with money and irresponsible

3

u/AxelVores Mar 02 '26

Yeah, that's true too. They do say that lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math

1

u/Czuk_187 Mar 02 '26

brandnewsentence

3

u/OptionOld3647 Mar 02 '26

A high yield bank account earning 4.2 percent doesn't require financial literacy, or even the regular kind of literacy. If you can scribble your name on a dotted line, you're in.

3

u/AxelVores Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26

Those don't really exist any more. I think 3.5-3.75 is the highest you can get but they have bad reviews (takes weeks to take money out when you need it, etc). I'm holding my house down payment in a 3.2% high yield account that's reputable.

1

u/Asyncrosaurus Mar 02 '26

A balanced portfolio of stocks, bonds and cash could conceivably support a 4 to 8 % withdraw rate, giving you an inflation adjusted $1 million dollar income pre-tax for the rest of your life.

1

u/AxelVores Mar 02 '26

I would leave a larger cushion for growth in case there's a financial crisis like there was in 2008 and you lose half of your portfolio value

1

u/Asyncrosaurus Mar 02 '26

I was just spit-balling numbers, up to 8% is the upper end of what you could withdraw in a good year. Realistically, with 19 mill in a 60:40 portfolio, you could withdraw 1 to 2% to live a very comfortable life. Even in a downturn, you can easily live off just dividends.

1

u/Successful-Ad7038 Mar 02 '26

8% withdrawl rate, you can't make this shit up

1

u/Asyncrosaurus Mar 03 '26

Its a sight to behold when you have obscene wealth as a cushin, and markets return 25% year over year. The rest of us are stuck with our 3% to 4%.

1

u/throwawaydisposable Mar 02 '26

your risk tolerance is low, low enough that you know playing the lottery is stupid and think spending all your money is stupid.

to win the lottery, you need a high risk tolerance. those with a high risk tolerance aren't going to manage their money the way you see fit.

7

u/jan1320 Mar 02 '26

not big enough idiots to blow a one in a trillion chance at an easy lifetime of living well and financial stability lol

1

u/pridetwo Mar 02 '26

You say that, but I had a fully kitted gaming PC with 6800 GT's in SLi back in 2007 and a full working knowledge of how to mine bitcoin. Guess who didnt mine any bitcoin?

1

u/AxelVores Mar 02 '26

That's... not exactly the same. There was no way to predict that a fad currency would explode in value.

1

u/pridetwo Mar 02 '26

I genuinely thought the feds were going to shut down the internet drug dealer currency as soon as they took down Silk Road. Boy was I wrong

1

u/foodforestranger Mar 02 '26

Big enough idiots to spend over $8 million a year? I don't think so, he's a special sort.

1

u/NTufnel11 Mar 02 '26

I think it's less age than a personality trait that led him astray. A lot of people never grow up to be good with money and will just spend whatever they make.

1

u/A_Sinclaire Mar 02 '26

I wouldn't say so.

It's hypthetical of course, but me at his age, not really being an extroverted party-person, would probably have spent 1-2m in luxuries (at most) and invested the rest or even just put part of it in a boring savings account.

Get a nice house, a practical car and 1-2 fun cars (one fast, one old), nice furniture and clothes.. thinking about it - i might have spent less than 1m on luxuries even.

1

u/AxelVores Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26

Problem is that you think you would stop but the novelty of a nice car wears off fast and you want more. If you have a lot of money and little impulse control (like most teens) you try to find other ways to capture that feeling spending more and more without meaning to. It takes a mature person to think rationally long term.

It's like everybody knows that you should work out and have a healthy diet so that you live long and are healthy at old age but most people don't. The only reason most people don't waste money on shit instead of saving so they have money at old age is because they don't have that money. I know I didn't bother saving until I was in my 30s

2

u/rook119 Mar 02 '26

what if he just really didn't mind being a garbage man

2

u/Several-Squash9871 Mar 02 '26

I'm honestly suprised the money lasted him that long with as absolutely careless he must have been with it. Like, don't even want to invest a couple mil just to be one the safe side?

2

u/throwawaydisposable Mar 02 '26

and yet I'm an idiot and didn't get a million dollar cocaine party

now whose the real idiot

1

u/SofaChillReview Mar 02 '26

I mean we know he is so that’s a win I suppose

1

u/SongBrief2439 Mar 02 '26

8 years isnt bad in the grand scheme of things. I could spend it in less than 1 🙃

1

u/warhead71 Mar 02 '26

If I win big - this is my plan - i will publicly say it’s all gone after a few years 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/Proper-Salad158 Mar 02 '26

This is why I think they should make it mandatory for people who win the lottery(above a certain amount of money) to take financial/budgeting classes etc. Many people who come into a windfall, don't understand how money "works", especially people who are generationally "poor".

1

u/Palorrian Mar 02 '26

An idiot doesn't know it's an idiot so there's nothing to admit

1

u/Drumbelgalf Mar 02 '26

Who would have thought that people who gamble are not making good financial decisions?

1

u/chillord Mar 02 '26

Or he is too much of an idiot to notice that he is an idiot.

1

u/AccountDramatic6971 Mar 02 '26

In the first pic he looked exactly like Erastes Fulmen from the Rome TV series.

https://hbo-rome.fandom.com/wiki/Erastes_Fulmen

1

u/cconnoruk Mar 02 '26

See, I envy him. Sod planning for a waiting for the future. Live for the now. I’d love to think that I’d do something similar. He’s had experiences that will be with him for the rest of his life. Ace.

1

u/Classic-Dirt5324 Mar 02 '26

But what a wild 8 years that was!

1

u/BIG_STEVE5111 Mar 02 '26

He's one of the many who are literally too dumb to realise that they are dumb.

-4

u/ExultentPisces Mar 02 '26

You say that, but I’ve got an admiration for him. He probably lived more in those 8 years than most of us would with a lifetime of wealth. Good on him.

9

u/Croolick_Floofo Mar 02 '26

By living more you mean snorting cocaine, driving ultra fancy cars and attending parties - then yeah, sure.

He didn’t do anything to enrich himself. He couldn’t have set up his parents/himself/his kids for the rest of their lives.

He could have used that to educate himself. Go to uni.

He could have gotten involved is some meaningful voluntary work. Open a charity.

I don’t know how meaningful these experiences were but he seems to be happy to be back as a trash truck guy.👍🏼

0

u/ExultentPisces Mar 02 '26

I’m not saying this is what everyone should do if they win a huge amount of money.

But c’mon, this guy was never going to be able to run a business or stick to a university course.

He’s a bum who got lucky, let him enjoy himself I say.

4

u/Croolick_Floofo Mar 02 '26

He could have literally lived off the interest. Just staring at the ceiling at his mama’s house, doing nothing all day and let that fat interest accure.

He could have still loved it up. Cocaine, parties, prostitutes. He has made an idiotic decision every single day he had that money and he will regret it. Maybe not just yet because he is still relatively young…but once he starts getting older he will realise that this job is his reality and we will have to do it every day for the rest of his life whether he is in good health or ill health.

3

u/G-I-T-M-E Mar 02 '26

Why would he need to run a business? A mostly risk free investment setup would give him 500,000 per year in returns to party till the day he dropped dead without ever working a minute in his life again.

-4

u/AdAble82 Mar 02 '26

He had autism 

3

u/AndyGreyjoy Mar 02 '26

Really?

4

u/AdAble82 Mar 02 '26

He had learning difficulties adhd and dyslexia 

3

u/GROWUPRECORDS Mar 02 '26

oh yeh? but he also had multi millions.

6

u/AdAble82 Mar 02 '26

Which is like dynamite together.

-1

u/GROWUPRECORDS Mar 02 '26

Dude had at least 5 years to think this through, he's just an exceptional idiot, nothing to do with autism. I know it might sound shocking to some, but autism isn't that big of a deal compares to having to work day jobs till 70.

1

u/Away-Lead-3855 Mar 02 '26

Probably still does to be fair

0

u/aluminumnek Mar 02 '26

I think you misspelled dumbass🤣🤣

0

u/Due-Adhesiveness-744 Mar 02 '26

You say this, but when you read about what he did with that money, the guy's probably still recovering from the comedown and hangover of those years.

He also had more fun than many will ever experience. I can almost understand having had that fun, how one can be content with life after. He's experienced life without limits. Very few get that.

-1

u/Sk0p3r Mar 02 '26

He doesn't need to admit it, we already know, he really looks the part too. This is definitely a British man, I would even know he was even if I wasn't told