Gaelic football club lottery drawn for last time (From The Oxford Times)
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Gaelic football club lottery drawn for last time
7:00am Friday 18th January 2013 in News
The last balls for Oxford Gaelic Football Club lottery have been picked after 12 years of raising money for the organisation. Pictured are John Conway, left, Billy Munnelly, centre, and John Tobin
a local lottery that paid out thousands of pounds over 12 years has been drawn for the last time.
Since 2000, a fortnightly fundraiser was held by members of Oxford-based Gaelic football club Eire Og, (Young Ireland).
The team was founded by expats from the Ireland in 1959.
Based at Cowley Workers’ Social Club, in Between Towns Road, Cowley, the lottery was regularly played by 250 people when it first started.
Last year, after the jackpot had rolled over every two weeks for almost five years, the lottery paid out £8,600, its biggest ever prize.
One of the lottery's organisers, John Tobin, 30, of Benson Road, Headington, said: “The lottery was started as a way of getting some regular income for the club. And It was great while it lasted but it had just run its course.
“We needed at least 100 people to enter just to break even, and in the end that’s all we were getting.”
Mr Tobin said the club wasn’t in any trouble and would not close but that it will now need to find other moneyspinners.
The final lottery draw was held on Sunday, December 29 at the social club and there was no winner of the £1,700 jackpot which instead went into the club’s funds.
