10 January 2024 , 11:25
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A National Lottery splurged his £2million win and ended up in court in a row over £400, sleeping on the floor of his own pub.
When Mike Antonucci scooped the jackpot in 1995, he believed he was set for life and quit his job as an antiques dealer. He went on an international spending spree during which he purchased luxury cars and yachts, and splashed out on a pub, nightclub and massage parlour.
Mike also bought a £200,000 speedboat and £250,000 apartment, and tied the knot with Kelly Arkins, a glamour model, in a lavish £10,000 ceremony in the Bahamas. The lottery winner also splurged £4,500 on Kelly's breast implants.
But the marriage lasted just three months and Mike's various business ventures, including his own pop band, proved unsuccessful. The former antiques dealer, now 74, ended up sleeping on a lilo in one of the pubs he ran in Plymouth, Devon. Since then he has remained under the radar – he was last reported to be working as a furniture exporter and living "day to day".
In 2009, some 14 years after his lottery win, Mike appeared in court charged with assaulting a shop owner he owed £400. He was found guilty and fined £720. Mike told magistrates in Plymouth: "I have had situations in my life in the last 15 years. When you go through certain experiences these things happen to you."
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The antique dealer's lottery fortunes did not last long (Gomer Barry)He's not the only lottery winner to fall on hard times. When Mike Luciano bagged a cool $1million (£790,000) in the latest of four lottery wins last January, he told Daily Star his windfall helped the family. However, that cash injection and money from previous lottery wins in the US did not last long.
Mike, who owns a bar in Pennsylvania, said: "Winning money in the lottery obviously is very helpful, it helps the family, helps you get that little break in life. But there’s also drawbacks to winning money.
"The hardest thing with winning money is, you know, you have to control your spending habits. Winning a lot of money like that isn’t as much money as you think, it can go pretty fast, and you have to be careful."