Horse bettor wins $471K on 50-cent bet

A horse bettor from New Jersey won $471,124.50 on a Pick Five bet that he paid 50 cents for on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.

According to ESPN.com, the winning ticket had Realm (11-1), English Minister (3-1), Site Read (21-1), Hey Bro (24-1) and Saratoga Mischief (6-1) all winning the first five races at Saratoga, which they did.

Because there was only one ticket that had all five of these winners, the bettor, who requested anonymity, won the entire pooled payout.

While the winning ticket cost 50 cents, the bettor bet a total of $675 on a combination of five horses to win those first five races.

Andy Serling, handicapper for the New York Racing Association (NYRA), which controls Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct racetracks, told ESPN.com that Saturday's single payout was a rare occurrence.

Since the fall of 2013 — when NYRA tracks started offering the Pick Five — there has been at least one winner every race day. But Serling said there has been a single winner only a couple of times in nearly two years.

It was the highest payout for a Pick Five, the NYRA said, since Aug. 29 of last year at Saratoga, when a single winner took home $595,502.

No truth to the rumor that Biff Tannen — aka "The Luckiest Man on Earth" — won both jackpots while crediting his success to a crazy old codger who told him which horses to bet on.