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Golden ticket 5039 sold out after Schooling's win

SINGAPORE – Within an hour of Joseph Schooling’s historic feat for Singapore at the Rio Olympics, scores of punters in Singapore rushed to betting shops across the island to lay a flutter on his Olympic record-breaking time of 50.39sec in the Men’s 100m butterfly.

Joint silver medalists, Michael Phelps of United States, Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos of South Africa, Laszlo Cseh of Hungary and gold medalist Joseph Schooling of Singapore celebrate after the medals ceremony in the Men's 100m Butterfly Final on Day 7 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August 12, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Getty Images

Joint silver medalists, Michael Phelps of United States, Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos of South Africa, Laszlo Cseh of Hungary and gold medalist Joseph Schooling of Singapore celebrate after the medals ceremony in the Men's 100m Butterfly Final on Day 7 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August 12, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Getty Images

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SINGAPORE – Within an hour of Joseph Schooling’s historic feat for Singapore at the Rio Olympics, scores of punters in Singapore rushed to betting shops across the island on Saturday (Aug 13) to lay a flutter on his Olympic record-breaking time of 50.39sec in the Men’s 100m butterfly.

The 4D number 5039 was sold out within an hour of Schooling winning the race, which saw the Singaporean swimmer beat American great Michel Phelps, South Africa’s Chad le Clos and Hungary’s Laszlo Cesh for the gold.

When TODAY visited several Singapore Pools outlets, punters who were trying to lay a bet on 5039 had their bets rejected. A Singapore Pools spokesperson would not comment on TODAY’s queries.

“Honestly, I’m not surprised that the number is sold out,” said punter Winston Tan, 38. “Being typical Singaporeans, we usually jump at such opportunities. But at least this is being done in light of a positive achievement for the country.”

Another punter, Muhamad Ismail, 52, said: “It’s quite funny that people reacted so quickly and made the number a sell-out. If it does come out as one of the winning 4D numbers this weekend, then it will be quite remarkable.

“Frankly, I don’t remember the last time a number was sold out due to a sporting achievement.”

With the golden ticket sold out, some punters have resorted to buying 5114 – in reference to the three-way silver-medal tie of 51.14s clocked by Phelps, le Clos and Cseh.

This is the first time in Olympic swimming history that three swimmers are tied for second place.

“How rare is that?” said Steven Loh, 38, who bought a ticket. “I think it’s worth a punt.”

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