[citation needed] After the Constitution of Ireland was enacted in 1937, the name Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake was adopted and "Free State" was dropped.

Fortune Magazine described it as "a private company run for profit and its handful of stockholders have used their earnings from the sweepstakes to build a group of industrial enterprises that loom quite large in the modest Irish economy.

"[6] By his death in 1966, Joe McGrath had interests in the racing industry, and held the Renault dealership for Ireland besides large financial and property assets.

[citation needed] In 1986, the Irish government created a new public lottery, and the company failed to secure the new contract to manage it.

The final sweepstake was held in January 1986 and the company was unsuccessful in a licence bid for the Irish National Lottery, which was won by An Post later that year.

[citation needed] The Public Hospitals (Amendment) Act, 1990 was enacted for the orderly winding up of the scheme,[7] which had by then almost £500,000 in unclaimed prizes and accrued interest.

[citation needed] From the 1950s onwards, as the American, British, and Canadian governments relaxed their attitudes towards this form of gambling, and went into the lottery business themselves, the Irish Sweeps, never legal in the United States,[11]: 227  declined in popularity.