Jona Rechnitz: Tom Brady Super Bowl Safety Nets Bettor $50k [UPDATED]

Rechnitz won the bet in the opening minutes of the football championship between the New England Patriots and the Giants, when Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was flagged for intentionally grounding the ball. Shortly thereafter, Rechnitz's apparent acquaintance Benjamin Lyons tweeted out a photo from @BenjaminLyons of the winning ticket, to just about every sports news organization he could find.

After requests for more specific information, Lyons contacted the International Business Times through email. He wrote that a group of nine frequent bettors who go back a long time meet up every so often to gamble. He wrote the nontet made well over $100,000 betting on Sunday's Super Bowl (of course, the lion's share would have been from the opening safety).

There was a another $1000 safety bet at 10-1, Lyons said. And big money on the Giants and the under.

Lyons is based in Los Angeles and knows Rechnitz, a real estate investor based in New York City, from LA, where he was born and raised.

In American football, a safety is the only means by which a team not in posession of the ball may score. A safety occurs when the quarterback in possession of the ball is sacked or intentionally grounds the ball in his own team's end zone. This method of scoring two points is very rare in professional football and its instance is even sparer in Super Bowls. Only seven safeties have occured in Super Bowls, let alone as the first score of the game.

This is a developing story and will be updated as information is gained.