An Orthodox Jewish sports fan who won $50,000 on a bet before the Super Bowl has announced that he will donate the money to charity.

New Yorker Jona Rechnitz is a lifelong fan of the Giants, and decided to place a $1,000 bet on his team before the biggest match in the American football calendar.

With odds of 50 to one, he was astounded when the team scored the first points with a move called a "safety" – as his bet said they would.

Mr Rechnitz, who was at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Hotel when he made the bet, told TMZ that he placed just one bet a year.

The Yeshiva University graduate has asked the star player of the losing New England Patriots, Tom Brady, to choose a charity for some of the money to go to.

But he will hold on to some of his winnings in the hope that Mr Brady will accept his invitation to go out for a kosher dinner.

He said that giving the money away "was a nice way to make a kiddush Hashem".