Irish Lottery Ticket?

I've been sorting boxes; just not stamps recently. :(
I did find this, and think it's really interesting. Were these engraved or? Do they have any value to collectors? I'll presume that this didn't win :)

Not exactly a lottery ticket as we know it today, though certainly a lottery !

The Cambridgeshire is famous old Horse Race run over one mile and one furlong at Newmarket [Cambs,England] in the Autumn.
It was one of those races with a lot of runners, some used to call it a 'Cattle charge' and was perfect for a sweepstake.
Each ticket drawn was placed against a horse and the winner won a share of the prize, or all of it depending on number or participants.

Still a popular event for big races in the UK today, especially offices and factories.

Londonbus1

I forgot to say that this sweepstake looks like it was a very big organized event with it's own printed tickets.

They are very good-looking.

Gee thanks for the info. I actually think I've another somewhere yet to be scanned. Interesting to know granddad followed the horses... or at least this one. heheh

I remember even in the sixties selling & buying Irish Sweepstake tickets was illegal in Canada as was off track betting.

Then in the seventies the federal & provincial governments realized there is some real money to be made and all at once it was legal.

Now there are more lotteries than you can shake a stick at and all those casinos.

There are a couple now on ebay for $4-$6.

Which again proves you can sell just about anything there.

Use Key words "Irish Sweepstakes Ticket."

No doubt they are of value to somebody, somewhere.

Irish Sweepstakes Ticket's are and have been illegal here in The States as far back as I can remember.
But we do have State sponsored OTB (Off Track Betting parlors) go figure

So the date on this ticket is 1940... it was illegal then? OMG... granddad... I'm shocked. :)

I don't know about in the 40's. But, I remember as a child in the 60's and 70's, that there was an illegal betting parlor around the block from my Grandparents in Brooklyn. You could find the loosing tickets in the street every so often.

This is for the 1952 race. "1940" is part of the charity's name. This wasn't illicit, at all. It was officially-sanctioned, to benefit charity.

[edit: If the ticket was sold in America, then, yes, it was illicit.]

Actually, the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes began in 1930. They have a charter from the Irish government as a trust charity, which was re-newed in 1940. As stated above, your ticket is from 1952, for the Cambridgeshire, one of 4 annual races that were used for the sweepstakes. (the others being the Derby, Grand National and Cesarewitch). In the mid-60's, as the international popularity of the IHS declined due to the increase of local lotteries, other races were added, including the Lincoln and the Irish Sweeps Derby (later just the Irish Derby).
I have just recently dug out my collection of these, and am starting to scan them to develop an on-line display.