£10 million lottery winner blows fortune, in debt

Feb 12, 2008, 9:00 am (39 comments)

After the Big Win

When hospital porter John McGuinness won a £10 million (US$19.5 million) British National Lottery jackpot, he thought his good fortune would never end.

Eleven years later, he is deep in debt, looking for a job and applying for public housing.

Some say it's all because he accepted an invitation to join the board of a football (British soccer) club.

Thanks largely to a disastrous £4 million investment in the lowly Scottish side Livingston FC, McGuinness, 44,  owes more than £2 million and is about to have his house repossessed.

The Royal Bank of Scotland last month won a court order to take possession of the £500,000 family home and the father of four has reportedly been declared bankrupt over a £35,000 debt owed for a Porsche sports car which has now been seized.

He is likely to be evicted following an appeal hearing in four weeks and meanwhile he is staying out of sight behind the gates of the converted schoolhouse in Larkhall, Lanarkshire.

The extraordinary story begins in January 1997 when McGuinness hit the £10 million jackpot while earning £150 a week and sleeping on his parents' floor.

He lavished more than £3 million on close members of his family and gave £750,000 to his ex-wife Hazel.

He swopped his battered old Vauxhall Astra for a £140,000 Ferrari Modena Spyder. Other cars followed and at one point he had six in the drive, including a Bentley, Mercedes, Jaguars and BMWs.

He snapped up a £500,000 seafront apartment in Majorca, went on Caribbean cruises, five-star ski trips and vacations around the world.

He also spent £200,000 on his wedding to Sandra in 2003.

But the offer to join the board of second division Livingston proved to be his downfall.

Breakdown of how McGuinness spent his fortune.Although he helped the club reach the Scottish Premier League and win the league cup in 2004, success on the field was not mirrored financially and it crashed into administration.

McGuinness had used his personal fortune to guarantee club loans and they were called in.

With huge legal costs adding to his debts, he owes £2.1 million to the Royal Bank of Scotland and is said to have no money left.

Even his house will only pay off a fraction of the debts. Sandra's parents, who live in a small house on the site, are likely to be made homeless too.

McGuinness's cars and villa have had to go and expensive jewellery, including a Rolex watch, have been sold at cut-price rates.

He and his wife are preparing to go back to work — something that was unthinkable just over a decade ago, when they had the world at their feet.

Sandra, a former nurse, is said to have enrolled on a hairdressing course.

A friend said, "John has been devastated by what has happened. In no time at all, he's gone from millionaire to someone who's had his car repossessed.

"Sandra has an appointment with the local housing office to see if they can come up with [public housing].

"People might not like to think of John deserving a subsidised home, but his needs are as great as any other homeless person."

Commenting on his disastrous football investment three years ago, McGuinness said, "I probably was a bit naive and perhaps made a mistake but I got involved with the best possible intentions.

"I just want my life to get back to the way it was before — but minus the football.

"People see me and see a really quiet chap who might help people out. But I have learned a great deal from the experience, which I suppose is a positive thing to take out of it."

The £200,000 wedding: Mr McGuinness with his bride Sandra.

Hospital porter John McGuinness won a £10 million lottery jackpot.

The £500,000 home: The family expect to be evicted within weeks.

Daily Mail

Comments

fwlawrence's avatarfwlawrence

If his wife is a former nurse, why take a hairdressing course? Go back to nursing-it probably pays better.

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Quote: Originally posted by fwlawrence on Feb 12, 2008

If his wife is a former nurse, why take a hairdressing course? Go back to nursing-it probably pays better.

I know when I read that I thought why not go back to being a nurse. It pays more.

LuckyLilly's avatarLuckyLilly

Quote: Originally posted by fwlawrence on Feb 12, 2008

If his wife is a former nurse, why take a hairdressing course? Go back to nursing-it probably pays better.

Sounds like she's been out of the field 10 years.  Maybe it's changed too much??  I dunno much about it.

Kinda feel sorry for these two, but it sounds like he didn't look into the investment much before he sunk 4 million into it.  It's like he thought the money would never run out no matter how much he spent.  Tsk tsk. 

hjones

It's amazing to learn that some people just don't "live within the means", no matter how rich you get.

 Some people never learn.

OldSchoolPa's avatarOldSchoolPa

Now I see what the difference is between say wealthy businessperson and a lottery winner who becomes involved in business deals...if things turn sour for the businessperson like they did for Donald Trump, he has the ability to recreate that wealth by employing proven business systems.  However, if a lottery winner makes ill-advised personal and business decisions, that person typically has no recourse to recreate that wealth has it was acquired largely as a matter of luck.  And despite all the well-published cases of lottery winners blowing their fortunes, one would think current and future lottery winners would learn from the others' mistakes and not repeat them.  Key mistakes not to make after winning the lottery are: 1) do not lend money to friends and relatives (even if you did so before, don't do it afterward); 2) do not get involved in business deals or make investments in things you really don't know the ins and outs about; 3) don't immediately start thinking how you're going to spend your windfall...there is no amount of money that cannot be spent in a short amount of time (just look at how our government spends trillions of dollars in a years time...last time I checked there has not even been a single single-winning ticket lottery jackpot that equalled a billion dollars); 4) do thoroughly educate yourself about any potential investment and business opportunities AND establish a TEAM of impartial advisors (a trusted law firm with experience in that area of law, an accountant, a business advisor like SCORE, etc.); 5) think long-term and not short-term...short-term thinking tends to center on spending whereas long-term thinking tends to focus on investment, growth, and preservation.  So with that said, LORD please let me have a single winning ticket for the Mega Millions drawing tonight!!!

Todd's avatarTodd

Personally, I love that shot of him wearing the Burger King crown. Big Grin

JackpotWanna's avatarJackpotWanna

One word could have saved his millions. That word is "NO" 

 

$20 million within 10 years is pretty good.  He  was a good man from his spending habbits, he mostly used his money to help people. He should have took annuity payments instead taking the cash or used the cash to buy into anniuty. Turn $20 million cash into $40 million in annuity payments for 30 years and you set for life.

mken32's avatarmken32

I like that what you're talking about 20 million to 40 million in annuity, dude where do these people come from they have poor management of money I am not the best but I worry about the end result.... so when I hit tonight 150 million can you give me some pointers in financial advice...

 

MKEN32Smile

lmatlaw

The guy is an idiot, plain and simple. How could he not see what was happening to him?

Trained2beRich's avatarTrained2beRich

From what i understand Donald Trump has never had a personal bankruptcy but has had a business bankruptcy.  Thats a big difference.  It the difference between a lanlord who owns real estate as an LLC and one that owns it personally.  In an LLC the liablitity is limited to the business.

OldSchoolPa's avatarOldSchoolPa

Quote: Originally posted by Trained2beRich on Feb 12, 2008

From what i understand Donald Trump has never had a personal bankruptcy but has had a business bankruptcy.  Thats a big difference.  It the difference between a lanlord who owns real estate as an LLC and one that owns it personally.  In an LLC the liablitity is limited to the business.

And that goes exactly to proving my point...a business person utilizes all available business systems (including having the proper legal structure) to build wealth.  Perhaps this lottery winner should have established appropriate legal structures before shelling out money on ventures he apparently did not know enough about.

jeffrey's avatarjeffrey

God, why spend anything but interest. Jesus, when will they learn. I wouldn't even think about anything but interest. You don't have to have everything. I did enjoy that pool that idiot imported from Spain, complete with marble peasant women with fountains flowing from waterpots on their shoulders. I could die in a pool like that.

s5thomps's avatars5thomps

Easy come easy go!, It's always sad to see someone blow through a fortune like that! I hope that the next person to win a huge jackpot, learn from the people before them that blow through that type of money. Who needs six cars anyway? You can only drive one at a time. People need to remember that everything in life is temporary and  that you can't take it with you. So why not make it last a lifetime. I can only hope that if I was to experience a jackpot win that I would be smart enough not to fall for any Bull****!  So that being said I hope that it happens in my LIFETIME! 

                                                                    No Pity!

chasingadream's avatarchasingadream

One word could have saved his millions. That word is "NO" 

 

 

I Agree! i would never make the mistakes that he made

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