Scrutiny of the bounty brings end to Corkman's 33-year gamble on parents' pensions

Liam Heylin looks at the story of gambling at the heart of what was described this week as “the largest and longest-running case of welfare fraud in the history of the State.”

Gambling is at the heart of 59-year-old Don O’Callaghan’s story. Photo: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Lifelong gambler Don O’Callaghan took the biggest punt of his life in November 1987.

When he walked into the post office on that occasion he did not know if it would pay off. But he walked out with a good return. It would go on to be one of the most extraordinary accumulators that any Irish gambler would ever carry out.