David Henry Power (16 January 1947 – 8 July 2024) was an Irish

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

. Power's grandfather started bookmaking in

Tramore Tramore (; ) is a seaside town in County Waterford, on the southeast coast of Ireland. It has a population of 11,277 as per the 2022 census, the second largest town in the county. Overview Originally a small fishing village, the area saw rapi ...

County Waterford County Waterford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. ...

in 1896, having earlier worked as a draper. The business passed to his son, Paddy, who died suddenly in 1963, leaving it to his son David. At 16, he was too young to take up the betting licence. Power completed his schooling at St Mary's College in

Rathmines Rathmines (; ) is an inner suburb on the Southside (Dublin), Southside of Dublin in Ireland. It begins at the southern side of the Grand Canal of Ireland, Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to the south, Ranela ...

and studied accountancy at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

before taking over the family bookmaking firm in 1970. In 1988, Power made a deal with fellow independent bookmakers Stewart Kenny and John Corcoran to merge their Irish betting chains to create the

Paddy Power Paddy Power is an Irish gambling company founded in 1988. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Business operations are led from its headquarters in Dublin, alongside a satellite office ...

brand, initially with 40 outlets. The company was listed on the

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

in 2000. Power retired from the Paddy Power board in 2013. He suffered a severe medical emergency in December of that year, but recovered and continued on-course bookmaking until retiring after the

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Race ...

in 2018. Power died on 8 July 2024, at the age of 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, David 1947 births 2024 deaths Bookmakers Irish businesspeople