Record-breaking contestant passes $1 million mark on ‘Jeopardy!'

ORLANDO, Fla. — A record-breaking contestant has passed the $1 million mark on “Jeopardy!”

James Holzhauer, a sports gambler from Las Vegas, has already made history on the show after beating the one-day record winnings by scoring more than $131,000.

The 34-year-old is willing to risk big time sums of money, which has already landed him in the “Jeopardy!” record book.

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Not only has he won $131,127 to shatter the program's previous one-day record of $77,000, he also has the top five one-day scores in the history of a game that has aired regularly since 1984.

There's a strategy at play, betting on big numbers early, looking for those crucial daily doubles.

Holzhauer is the second person in the show's history to earn more than a million in the regular season.

The first one was Ken Jennings who has recognized the newcomer's prowess, telling Wired magazine that, "He thought he had seen everything, and this is something that he would have thought was just impossible."

Holzhauer has credited part of his success to his use of a controversial method of jumping around from category to category, choosing tiles out of order to throw off other contestants.

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