Many of us may have had a little flutter over the festive period, but for one man a casual holiday bet has turned into a life-changing win.
Travis Dufner from New Jersey had put down a $5 dollar bet over Christmas.
This was a 14-leg parlay, which for the uninitiated means that 14 separate things all had to happen for him to win the bet.
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And as you might imagine, that resulted in some extremely long odds and winning the bet almost impossible. Almost.
That's because despite the insane odds on the bet, which were +9787560, by some incredible luck the bet actually came through.
That meant that the very lucky gambler walked away with the thick end of half a million dollars, cashing in a prize of $498k.
Now that's a merry Christmas.
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The bet was won over the course of three days, starting from play on Saturday and moving through Sunday, before the final leg came through on Monday, sealing the mind-blowing win.
That final leg was provided by San Francisco 49er Christian McCaffrey, who scored against the Baltimore Ravens with just three and a half minutes left in the second quarter.
McCaffrey rushed in to score a touchdown from nine yards, securing Dufner's astonishing scoop.
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Speaking to ABC, Dufner said: "I've put plenty of these parlays down before. I've hit a few small ones but obviously nothing in the realm of this."
And what does Dufner plan to spend his winnings on?
Well, his work as a financial planner leaves him in a good position to make wise decisions about his windfall.
With that in mind, he has said that he plans to pay off his student loans and his car payments, and then use whatever is left to invest in his family's future.
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Dufner is not the only gambler to win big this year, with one man wagering $40 on the Megabucks slot machine in Las Vegas.
The winner, called Jesus C, scooped an enormous win when the machine paid out a whopping $10 million jackpot.
The victor said that he plans to use part of the winnings to buy a house for his mom.
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On July 7, Jesus spun the wheels and lined up three Megabucks symbols, which meant that he had won the jackpot on the machine.
Around 20 gamblers have become multi-millionaires on the Megabucks machines since they were first introduced in 2005, a little more than one a year.
Kit Roberts