ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Culture
WALLET WIPEOUT
For 36-year-old Tom Bates from Masterton, Melbourne Cup Day had started with something he hadn’t felt in quite some time: hope.
Having placed $50 across a couple of carefully selected bets, Bates had spent much of Tuesday morning entertaining the possibility that he might soon become considerably wealthier than he was when he woke up.
“I could just see it. Walking out of the TAB with absolute wads of cash in my pocket. Maybe stopping somewhere nice for a celebratory dinner and expensive pint. I hadn’t felt this optimistic in years.”
Bates said the morning had been filled with possibility, with the 36-year-old reportedly checking his betting slips several times and convincing himself that his selections were looking particularly strong.
“I was thinking, this could actually be it. Fifty dollars in, potentially hundreds or thousands coming out. It’s the sort of thing that changes your afternoon, really.” said Bates, who had put most of his money on the horse ‘Middle Earth’.
However, the optimism would prove to be remarkably short-lived as ‘Point of Law’ went on to win the great race.
Just three and a half minutes after the race began, Bates’ afternoon took a devastating turn, as his hopes of a lucrative payday began to unravel.
“I was still holding onto hope. I kept thinking, surely one of them is going to come through here at the post. Surely something is going to happen.”
But nothing happened.
As the horses crossed the finish line, Bates was left standing in the TAB, staring blankly into space as the reality of his financial situation slowly began to sink in.
“I just stood there for a bit. I didn’t really know what to do. Three and a half minutes ago I was a man with a plan. Now I’m just a man down fifty dollars.”
More to come.
