Homeless man turns $5 into $106k with insane Melbourne Cup bet

A man’s life has changed forever, checking his account after the Melbourne Cup to see a six-figure payment sitting there.

Mark Zahra riding Without A Fight celebrates. Photo by Josh Chadwick/Getty Images.

A homeless man in New Zealand has remarkably won NZ$106,000 ($97,781.29 AUD) from a $5 bet on the Melbourne Cup.

The man from Wellington — who is only known by his first name Robert — placed the bet at the Petone Working Men’s Club the day before the race, not knowing that the small wager on the $8.4 million Cup, won by Without A Fight, would turn his life upside down.

Robert checked his account after the race, and had to look twice when he noticed five extra zeros next to his account balance.

“It was quite, quite an emotional process, mate,” he told the NZ Herald, understandably gobsmacked by the result.

“I couldn’t believe it, and I thought to myself, ‘there must be something wrong here’.”

Robert investigated further before realising that it was no mistake, with a green tick next to his $5 first four easybets and NZ$106,000 in winnings.

Mark Zahra riding Without A Fight celebrates. Photo by Josh Chadwick/Getty Images.

It was a result that could see Robert turn his life around, and that’s the way he intends to spend the money, after enduring the last nine months living in a garage.

“I’ve gone from being homeless, sitting in a garage to finally being able to afford a deposit on a house now,” he said.

Due to privacy reasons TAB was unable to disclose further details of the wager.

Robert watched the race at the Petone Working Men’s Club with friends, as Mark Zahra piloted $8 chance Without A Fight to Melbourne Cup glory for Anthony and Sam Freedman, securing Zahra’s second win in as many years in the race that stops the nation.

Without A Fight smashed them. Photo by George Sal/Racing Photos via Getty Images.

Without A Fight’s victory marks the first time in 22 years that a horse has won the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup double, after Ethereal completed the feat in 2001.

While the Melbourne Cup triumph is sure to be a life changer for connections of Without A Fight, it may have proved even more significant for this punter, who now has an opportunity to change his lot in life.

Punter loses $320,000 after going all-in on favourite Vauban

One Melbourne Cup punter will be kicking up dust this afternoon after Cup favourite Vauban flopped at Flemington.

Vauban received substantial bets in the lead-up to the iconic race on Tuesday, including a $320,000 bet split between odds of $5 and $4.80 by professional punter Steve Bradley.

He initially aimed for a $400,000 bet at $5 to win $2 million but had to settle for smaller bets totalling $320,000.

Vauban was miles back. Photo by Josh Chadwick/Getty Images.

“Steve Bradley just went completely nuts and it just created chaos in the room,” Bookmaker Warren Woodcock said.

“There were a lot of big bets flying around.”

Other bets on Vauban included $230,000 at $4.80 and $200,000 at $5 before the horse placed a disappointing 14th.

Two bets of $20,000 and $22,500 were placed on the eventual winner, Without A Fight, with odds of $7.50, yielding returns of $150,000 and $168,750 respectively.

Several TAB punters also won big after placing bets of $10,000 and $15,500 on Without A Fight at odds of $6, leading to mammoth returns of $60,000 and $93,000.

A Ladbrokes customer had a potential million-dollar win riding on a five-leg multi-bet, with the final leg being Vauban to win the Melbourne Cup at odds of $7.

The bet stood to collect $989,120, but Vauban‘s loss left the punter painfully short of the payout.

— with punters.com.au