Born in Penrith, New South Wales, Carter played his junior rugby league for the Wyong Roos, before being signed by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

[21] On 13 July 2017 it was revealed that Carter was playing for The Coffs Harbour Comets on The NSW Mid North Coast in The Group 2 division.

CRL Operations Manager Bert Lowrie said "Carter has been deregistered by the board "based on his history" and "will remain that way until he makes an application to be registered".

[23] Carter's career has been marred by alcohol abuse, which led to his contracts with the Gold Coast and South Sydney being torn up.

Following the incident Coach Neil Henry commented that "Paul has had an opportunity... we've put measures in place to help him out with a few of the issues he has and he was making some progress but to go and transgress again, especially when the courts have said he's unlicensed, that's unacceptable".

[24] In July 2016 (while contracted with South Sydney) Carter was sacked because he failed to attend a training session following a weekend bender.

A month earlier (June 2016) Carter and teammate Kirisome Auva'a were both stood down for turning up to training under the influence of alcohol.

Carter was due to be sentenced for supplying a small quantity of cocaine to ex-teammate Shaun Kenny-Dowall at The Ivy nightclub in May 2017.

Carter had vehemently denied he was leaking the Dylan Napa sex tapes as part of a campaign to extort money from his former teammate.

It was claimed that Carter fell out with Napa 18 months ago and he wanted money in exchange for keeping the videos private.

[33] In December 2023, it was reported that Carter had avoided jail time after being found guilty of spitting in his ex-girlfriend's face on three occasions and also physically assaulting her.

[34] On 10 May 2024, Carter was granted bail after fronting court for breaching release conditions in a previous domestic violence case.