By now, you’re sick of the Cup, we’re sick of the Cup. But here’s a doozy of a dilemma regarding the luckiest and most ungrateful punter in Australia.

On Tuesday, a friend of The Punch’s went to the TAB to put on his bets. Before leaving, he asked his workmates if he could put any bets on for them.
One guy in his 60s gave our friend $6 for a “mystery box trifecta”. That’s when the TAB computer randomly selects three horses and if they run the placings any which way, the bet wins.
And boy, did the bet win. A cool $4,798.10 thanks very much. The punter, naturally, was over the moon. And duly pocketed the ticket with no further correspondence entered into.
Which brings us to the dilemma. Should the lucky punter have flicked his workmate a small share of the winnings?
Let’s recap the facts. There is no way the guy would have even considered the bet if not prompted by his workmate. And even if he had gone off and done it himself, the computer would have randomly selected three totally different horses if the ticket had gone into the machine a millisecond earlier or later.
Surely we can agree that the guy who placed the bet deserves at least a case of beer. But does he deserve more? A hundred bucks? The change down to $4,000? Half the winnings?
Or does he deserve squat? You help a little old lady across the road, you don’t stick your hand out for a tip. Maybe this was no different.
You tell us.
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