Ireland Offers New National Lottery
The Irish Republic launched a new national lottery Monday, replacing the declining Irish Hospital Sweepstakes once billed as the world’s largest lottery.
Tickets went on sale at 3,000 retail outlets around the country with lottery organizers forecasting that up to 75% of the population in this betting-mad country would try their luck every week.
The new lottery tickets, which cost $1.40 each, give instant prizes if you can scratch off three identical symbols. A grand weekly prize of $175,000 is offered, too. Profits will fund sports, the arts and health facilities.
The Irish Hospital Sweepstakes Committee, whose international sales had been hard hit by the rise of state lotteries in the United States, sought to run the new national lottery, but the contract was awarded to the Post Office.
The Irish Sweeps, set up in 1930 by six Dublin hospitals, raised $180 million for hospital building programs. Their Dublin offices were closed last month.
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