End of an era for Galway’s family bookmakers

IT is the end of an era in Galway bookmaking circles as the final five shops in the family-owned Mulholland business were sold onto to Boyle Sports last month.

However, the Mulhollands will still continue to operate pitches at a number of racecourses including Ballybrit, Ballinrobe, Punchestown, Listowel and Clonmel.

Alan Mulholland, partner in Mulhollands, told the Galway City Tribune that while the decision to sell the final five shops was an emotional one, it was in keeping with the way the business was going.

“I suppose that it is the end of an era after a family involvement in the business that spans back to the 1930s, but now there are a few big players in the market . . . and that’s the way the business has gone,” said Alan Mulholland.

The Mulholland link to the ‘business of betting’ can be traced to Alan’s great-grandfather, John Mulholland, who worked for a time in a bookie’s shop, before passing on this knowledge to his son, Ned.

An All-Ireland senior football final winner with Galway in 1938, Ned established Mulholland bookmakers around that time, with the business then carried on through his son John, and in later years by his children, Alan and Eddie.

See full story in this week’s Galway City Tribune.