The Irish Sweeps

jonniebgood1

The Irish Hospitals sweepstakes was supposedly a charity organisation to fund health in Ireland from 1930. It quickly developed in to a profitable industry with its charity status questioned by many. The sweep only ended in 1986/87 as the current lottery came in.
The drum used in sweepstake draws is at cabinteely house:


How did the draws function and are there any images of them in action?
Also I have read of conflicts of interest with its directors- were there controversies with these or is it simply hindsight that identifies this aspect of the sweeps? If anyone has recollection of the sweeps then feel free to post.

pedroeibar1

The drum is in Cabinteely House because that property was owned by Paddy McG, son of Joe, one of the founders, an Old IRA man. The original draws were made by a couple of blind orphans from a home in Dublin, who pulled the tickets out of it. Then it was done by nurses, fine specimens of Irish womanhood. The Cabinteely land was sold off and became a housing estate (The Park), opposite Dunnes Cornellscourt. The house eventually ended up with the OPW.
The Sweep building was on the site of the present AIB HQ in Ballsbridge (very appropriate!) It generally was regarded as a scam, and particularly for overseas-Irish, who had no proof that their funds were remitted to Dublin for the draw(s). Most of the tickets were sold in the US by racketeers. Any criticism was usually met with ‘Ah shur, doesn’t he employ a lot of widows down there in Ballsbridge.’ When it folded they had neither pension nor income, which made headlines at the time. In fairness to the McGraths they were very paternalistic employers which is one reason their Waterford Glass ran into huge difficulties.
A holder of a potential winning ticket could sell it (or a share in it) and the McGraths often bought in, ensuring a profit to themselves. There were many conflicts that were known, but the McGraths had too many politicians (all parties) in their pockets and that prevented any public airing. Dessie O'Malley as Minister for Justice had manners put on him when he tried to interfere/find out where the cash was going, and an RTE documentary (Today Tonight?) was also blocked. The Dun Laoghaire bookie Terry Rogers often was a ticketshare buyer, possibly as a means of promoting his chain of betting shops.

There is a book, and details of it and more are here http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-sweepstakes-was-a-scam-says-new-book--103917434.html

Cardinal Richelieu

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

How did the draws function and are there any images of them in action?

Pathe Films has quite a few films of the Irish Sweepstakes in action. Quite a procession through Dublin on Mixing Day!

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/cesarewitch-sweepstakes-mixing-counterfoils-in-dub/query/irish+sweepstakes

jonniebgood1

The sweepstakes were exposed by the Sunday Independent in 1971 but still continued after. Its an interesting story an the man who exposed it was later ostracised because of it. His retrospective opinion on it is given here and is a good read:

Normally space considerations would demand that an article of that magnitude be split in two and published on consecutive weeks. But if that happened, we knew that the second half would be unlikely to hit the streets.

So Conor made what was to be a momentous decision. He would not inform the Board or the Murphy family of what he was doing. The complete article would run in one edition.

It ran full and uncut on January 21, 1973. Entitled 'Where the Sweeps Millions Go' the opening summation best describes the somewhat explosive contents.

Following months of investigation into the Irish Sweepstakes, it can now be established that Irish hospitals are receiving less than 10% of the value of tickets marketed in their name throughout the world by Hospitals Trust (1940) Ltd.

The Sweeps were also linked back to the formation of the state

In 1924, in a clash over an attempted army mutiny by friends of McGrath, O'Higgins virtually took over the Government with Cosgrave absent, jailed the mutineers and brought a Ministerial reshuffle and McGrath's resignation. Despite Cosgrave being head of Government, O'Higgins's decisivesness led to his emergence as the Government's strongman. From that position, he made it clear that there would be no more sweepstakes licences so long as he was around. Even Cosgrave was silenced.

For three years, McGrath languished in the wilderness, borrowing a little money from the Government's secret fund, doing a little strike-breaking on the Shannon Scheme, essentially going nowhere.

Then, in July 1927, in one of those extraordinary coincidences where one man's tragedy proves to be another's good fortune, Kevin O'Higgins, coming home from Mass without his usual escort, was accosted by three men and shot down. Whatever about the tragic consequence, there was no question that McGrath's star was back and rising. With Cosgrave's backing, and sustained canvassing, he finally got that coveted sweepstake licence for himself and his backers.

The full details are more interesting at http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/how-i-exposed-the-sweepstakes-scandals-191645.html