BUFFALO, N.Y. — What started out as a mistake with a wager placed in error, and which he presumed he would end up regretting, turned into a big payday for a North Buffalo man.
Bob Zielonka is a Buffalo Sabres fan who enjoys placing an occasional wager online, usually in the form of a parlay bet, where two or more things have to happen in order to win.
On Thursday morning he placed a bet that not only would the Sabres beat the New Jersey Devils, but that Sabres right winger Kyle Okposo would score the game first goal.
Ceasars put the odds of the parlay wager at 40-1.
By no means a "high roller," Zielonka explained that for such a long shot he would normally bet no more than a couple of dollars.
But he placed the bet while in a hurry as he began his day Thursday.
What did I just do?
"I hadn't had any coffee and I hadn't woken up yet," he recalled. "And I meant to type in $2.50 (for the wager), and I accidentally hit $250 instead, which I did not realize until I had already hit the 'place bet' button."
According to Zielonka, he spent much of the rest of Thursday felling down about his error.
"I could not believe I made such an idiotic mistake," he said.
Still feeling out of sorts over the matter, he initially didn't even bother to turn on the game that night.
"I did everything I could to avoid it, to be honest," he said.
But eventually, even though he tried to busy himself with other things, Zielonka found himself eventually checking in on how the game was going.
"I looked after the second intermission and learned Buffalo was up 3-1, and I thought that's great, but there's no way Okposo scored," he said.
Looking up the box score, Zielonka quickly learned that not only had Okposo scored, but he that he had scored the game's first goal. That suddenly put Zielonka in line for a $10,000 payout if the Sabres could hang on for the victory, which they eventually did 5-2.
"And I could just feel my heart beating through my chest at that moment," Zielonka said.
OMG!
It's not lost on Zielonka how odd it was to beat the odds on his wager, especially because Okposo's goal was fluky in of itself.
"It was a horrible goal for them (New Jersey) to allow in. It was short-handed and just kind of dumped in from center ice," Zielonka said.
Zielonka and his wife have some plans for the winnings.
"She would like to get some dresses, and I want a Sabres jersey, and we're getting a dishwasher because we've never had one," he said.
And, as fate would have it, when he went to fire up his lawnmower on Friday, Zielonka found it to be not working.
"So, I'd also like to get a new push mower. ... Really exciting stuff for a $10,000 win, huh?" he said with a laugh.
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