Arlington Park bet pays out more than $1.1 million

An out-of-state bettor won more than $1.1 million on a $1 wager by predicting the first five finishers of Arlington Park's final race in the correct order Sunday.

The ticket correctly picked the winner, Better Make Money, who won the race at odds of more than 42-1, and the second finisher, Dixie Banter who raced at odds of 14-1.

The JackPOT High-5 had gone unclaimed for the first 23 racing days of the year and, as the pot swelled, track officials said bets on the race started pouring in.

Multiple people had won the bet over those 23 days, but if there is more than one winner on the race the winners split 50 percent of the pot and the rest carries over to the next day.

“It's a difficult wager to hit and be the only winning ticket on,” said Dave Zenner, communications manager for the park.

On Sunday, the carry-over pool, which was at $939,000, was bumped up to $1,115,184 after more than $200,000 was bet on the 12-horse race.

Track officials said the previous record was $269,253 on a pick-6 bet.

About $200,000 was bet on the race on Saturday, and about $150,000 each day last week, Zenner said.

“Once it hit the three- or four-hundred-thousand mark it started to take off,” he said. “There's been a lot of interest on-track and off-track.”

The out-of-state bettor opted to remain anonymous.

“That's usually the case on these large tickets,” Zenner said.

The pool will start out at zero again on Wednesday's card.