A homeless man managed to turn a $5 AUD bet on the Melbourne Cup into $106,000 AUD.
The New Zealander, who only wants to be known as Robert, bagged the life-changing amount, which equates to around £55,000 in British money.
He said he went to a working men's club to watch the horse race after placing the bet on a whim the previous day. Robert had placed a punt on horse Without A Fight winning the Melbourne Cup.He had staked just $5 AUD on the race – around £3 – and used one of his own accounts to place his bet.
After the race, he said he went to the club's garden bar to have a cigarette and to check his results and winnings, only to be shocked to see his betting account having an "extra five zeros".
He said he kept refreshing his account to see if it was real as he "couldn't believe" he had won the life-changing sum.
He told a local newspaper: “It was quite, quite an emotional process, mate.
“I couldn’t believe it, and I thought to myself, ‘There must be something wrong here’.
"So, I went into my easybets and realised that there was a green tick next to my $5 first four easybets with $106,000 as the winnings."
The winning horse had romped home before second-place rider Soulcombe, followed by Sheraz.
Robert then went back into the bar to tell everyone about his big win and they celebrated together, with the bar owners even gifting him a bunch of flowers in a cup.
When asked how he planned to spend the money, he admitted he had spent the past nine months living in a garage and would use his winnings to change his life around.
He explained: “I’ve gone from being homeless, sitting in a garage, to finally being able to afford a deposit on a house now."
