From the Sweeps to Dolores, the allure of huge prizes is always a big draw

FROM the days of the Sweepstakes up to the EuroMillions and online tickets, lotteries have had a firm hold on Irish society.

- BY CIARA O'LOUGHLIN

After a lucky player in Munster scooped a massive €250million in the EuroMillions on Tuesday, we take a look back at the history of prize draws in this country.

There were scandals, a gameshow, a winning accountant that forced the rules to be changed, and the hilarious movie about an Irish Lotto scam, Waking Ned.

In the 1930s, following the Civil War, Ireland was suffering economically, and funding was badly needed for hospitals.

So the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes lottery (known as 'the Sweeps') was established and set out to raise much-needed money for hospitals.

Despite such lotteries being illegal in most jurisdictions, ticket sales were raking in millions and millions of pounds.

While it promised to do good, the Sweeps turned into one of the country's greatest scandals.

In 1973, it emerged that only 10% of the money raised was given to hospitals, with the founders of the lottery becoming rich.

People were fooled into thinking it was an honest operation as it was associated with the government of the day and gardai were in charge of tickets.

SMUGGLING

However, it was far from that. On top of hospitals only receiving a small portion of profits, the Sweeps involved worldwide ticket smuggling, tickets sold abroad that never made it back to Ireland, and tickets that never even made it into the drum.