Lottery winner who blew winnings says he'd do it all again differently
‘I won £11m on the lottery but now I’m back at work’: Glazier who bought a football club and home in Barbados after says he’d do it all differently if he scooped the jackpot again
- Mark Gardiner, 61, of St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex, won £11million in 1995
A lottery winner who splashed out his £11million winnings on a football club and a holiday home in Barbados says he’d do thing differently if he struck gold again.
Mark Gardiner, 61, hit the big jackpot nearly 30 years ago but still works as a glazier and says he is happy driving in his business van.
Mr Gardiner, of St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex, and his former business partner Paul Maddison split their £22,590,829 prize in 1995, The Sun reports.
But his good fortune didn’t last, with a series of bad investments which saw his enormous wealth slowly dwindle.
He then endured a painful separation with his fourth wife Brenda in 2004, vowing never to remarry.
Mark Gardiner, 61, hit the big jackpot nearly 30 years ago but still works as a glazier and says he is happy driving in his business van
But one of his smartest moves was to invest £2million of his prize money into company Croft Glass.
Now, he is as involved in the business as ever, handling the measuring up, surveying and orders for new windows.
Mr Gardiner said: “Don’t get me wrong, if I won the lottery now at 61 — I’d have done so many different things. I’d have stopped work.”
To this day, he still plays the lottery using the same magic numbers that won him a fortune in 1995, hoping that lightning will strike twice.
Speaking about the surreal days after his win, he told the Mail: ‘Some days I would wake up to find just two or three reporters outside, but, on other days, it could be more than ten.
‘Within a month I received my first threat of legal action, from a former girlfriend who claimed I was the father of her child and wanted money for the child’s upkeep.
‘I had to endure many court cases over the next few years, all from people who felt entitled to a slice of the money I had won.
Mark Gardiner (right) and his former business partner Paul Maddison (left) split their £22,590,829 prize in 1995
‘One evening, I went to my local pub and a man I’d never seen before came over and asked me if I was Mark Gardiner. I thought he was going to wish me well, but instead he chucked his pint of beer all over me. I didn’t know what to think – it was bizarre.
‘I bought two local football clubs, but they were a complete waste of money.
‘The clubs were never going to be profitable and, even though I had poured money into them, nobody was willing to help, so I put them both into administration.
‘I also bought houses for my four closest friends, all in the same cul-de-sac, so that we could be close and they could help shield me from unwanted attention. One by one, they took advantage of me – the manager of my glazing company, for example, started skiving off work.’
He credits holding on to his business and using his money to invest in it for keeping him grounded, despite splashing out in other areas.
He added: “I decided to invest money into it. I wanted to see if I had the ability, the skill and the knowledge to take it further. It was like a test and I have passed.
“I don’t worry that if I take the day off I won’t be able to pay my staff’s wages.”
Mr Gardiner is also the proud owner of Hastings United football club and maintains a second home in Barbados.
He told the Sun his former business associate Paul Maddison is a Jehovah’s Witness living in Scotland but did not comment further on him.
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