Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Super Bowl $50K Bet Goes to Charity

    (Image credit: @BenjaminLyons)

    Jona Rechnitz, 29, almost miraculously won $50,000 on a long-shot Super Bowl bet and he is donating his winnings to charity.

    Rechnitz of New York City bet $1,000 that the Giants would score the first points with a safety, at 50 to 1 odds. This was reportedly the first safety since Super Bowl XXV in 1991.

    A group of Rechnitz's friends make an annual trip to Las Vegas to bet on the Super Bowl and invited him this year for the first time.

    It was a good thing he decided to tag along this year because that bet won him $50,000. He also bet $500 on the Giants.

    This was the first time Rechnitz, who works in real estate, had made a sports bet of any kind.

    "I made one dumb bet-and I made out," he told ABC News.

    The winnings, however, are going to charity, said Rechnitz. Some of the money will go to a charity of choice of Tom Brady "for good sportsmanship" and the rest will go to charities endorsed by three of the Giants' defensive lineman.

    Has this encouraged him to make other bets? No.

    "When you beat the odds in Las Vegas, you leave Las Vegas," he said. "This is a fluke. It's not what I do."

    In other words, he thinks he'll get out while he's ahead.

    The tradition of his group of friends is that the biggest winner buys sneakers for everybody else. So he bought $700 worth of sneakers for his friends.

    "I was very happy to," Rechnitz said.

    Also Read
     

    4 comments

    • Dizzy  •  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  •  3 mths ago
      What a kind-hearted man! If only there were more of him in the world. :)
    • A Yahoo! User  •  New Orleans, Louisiana  •  3 mths ago
      Kudos to Jona!
    • Pat  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  3 mths ago
      what a kind, and possibly very very business savy man. he works in real estate and if he is an agent that 50k will pay itself back over and over again and far better than 50k worth of radio ads, refrigerator magnets, and calenders would have. we had a man in chicagoland a few years back who won something like 20k or maybe 50k in a large 50/50 charity raffle and donated it all to the charity. he was not megarich, but comfortable and gave it back saying he could not take money from a charity, and felt fortunate to be comfortable enough to help out charities
    • Troll  •  Somerset, New Jersey  •  3 mths ago
      what an idiot.. i hope he gets cancer and this treatment cost him 50k.
      • an Indiana educator 3 mths ago
        You're kidding, right??
      • A Yahoo! User 3 mths ago
        what an idiot.. I hope you get cancer and you have no money for treatment. Now how does that sound to you Troll? It sounds like an idiot, doesn't it? Now you know how you sound.
    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
    [ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]
    With significant physical rehabilitation, these wounded warriors perform inspiring acts of athleticism. Join the conversation.
    Meet the six families who are relying on your suggestions to confront real challenges this election year.
    Should Bill and Donna take on more risk to boost their business?