Aged just 12, Patrick Sheedy placed his first bet for 10p and devised his first scam, marking the beginning of his life as a compulsive gambler and one of Ireland’s most notorious con artists. Nearly 40 years on, after accumulating almost 100 criminal convictions, gambling away over a million euro and serving time in some of Ireland’s toughest prisons, his life is back on track and he has taken control of his addiction.

Sheedy’s is a tale of compulsive gambling and one man’s decades-long battle with addiction and the terrible lengths he went to feed it. Shocking, gripping and powerfully honest, A Hundred to One is the tell-all story of the author’s pursuit of ‘the big win’ at the cost of everyone and everything around him. It is also a hopeful reminder that recovery is possible, even from the depths of addiction.

Pat Sheedy was born and raised in Limerick. He is a sports fanatic who completed a creative writing degree while in prison for crimes connected to his gambling addiction. He has won the short-story prize at the Listowel Writers’ Week two years in a row.