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28-year-old Jona Rechnitz, owner of JSR Capital in New York, placed a $1000 bet on the safety being the first score of the 2012 Super Bowl, and it was. The result: $50,000 in winnings. And now comes word he’s donating 10 percent to the charity of Tom Brady’s choice.
Rechnitz hit the bet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with odds of 50-1. A safety had only occurred in two other Super Bowls. Oddsmakers offered long odds on the occurrence of a safety and even longer odds on a safety being the first score of the game.
"My friends thought I was crazy," Rechnitz told ESPN.com’s Page 2. "To be honest, I actually thought I was crazy, too."
From ESPN.com:
After Giants punter Steve Weatherford pinned New England inside its own 5-yard line, the suspense mounted considerably for Rechnitz and his friends.
"I had a lot faith in Justin Tuck, Osi Umenioyora, and Jason Pierre-Paul," he said, "This was my chance."
On New England's first play, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw a deep desperation pass to a vacant area of the field while being pressured by Tuck inside the pocket. When a flag for intentionally grounding was belatedly thrown with 8:52 remaining in the first quarter, the group erupted in cheers as Rechnitz became $50,000 richer.
"We celebrated for at least 10 minutes in complete mayhem," Rechnitz said with a laugh, "And my friends believed the bet was going to go viral!"
Interestingly, Rechnitz isn't an avid gambler. His friends frequent sports books, but this was his first time betting on a Super Bowl.
Rechnitz told ESPN.com that he doesn’t believe in gambling as a means of earning income. "It's just something I did for fun, so I'm donating all of the money to charity," he said.
With Gambling911.com ranking high on search engines for odds on the safety occurring, the sudden spike in traffic from all those mobile phones resulted in the site’s server crashing for a good 10 minutes.
“We’ve never seen so many people coming into the site all at once,” noted Payton O’Brien, Operations Manager for the Gambling911.com website. “Everyone wanted to know the payout odds.”
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
