ELGIN, Scotland, July 9 (UPI) -- A British lottery winner who blew millions of pounds in a decade of partying says he is happy working in a Scottish shortbread factory.
Michael Caroll, 30, told The (Glasgow) Daily Record he camped out while he looked for work after moving to Scotland last month from Norfolk. A Norfolk mansion he bought with his winnings had been sold.
"I've only got one chance left -- I'd have been dead in six months if I'd carried on that lifestyle of drinking and drug taking," he said.
Caroll was only 19 when he won 9.7 million pounds (about $14 million). Much of the money went to cocaine, and he says he also got through two bottles of vodka a day.
Now, he makes 204 pounds ($303) packing shortbread in the Walkers factory in Elgin and lives in a council apartment. He moved to Scotland because his ex-wife and daughter live near Elgin.
Caroll said he no longer uses drugs and limits his drinking to "a couple of cans on Friday after work."
"I'm definitely happier because I'm back to reality again," he said. "A few people recognized me when I started but everyone's been brilliant. I had lots of questions about the money in the first few days and where it all went."
He does have dreams of making money again, this time by saving his earnings, buying a couple of run-down properties and fixing them up.
