On Tuesday, furniture store owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale bet $3.5 million on the Astros to win the World Series, paying $7.7 million if successful.
Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, owner of Gallery Furniture in Houston, shocked the DraftKings sportsbook at Scarlet Pearl casino in Mississippi on Tuesday when he wagered $3.5 million on the Houston Astros to win the World Series. At +220 odds, the bet would pay a net $7.7 million if won.
However, ‘Mattress Mack’ didn’t do this for the thrill or excitement normally associated with sports betting. Instead, he is using the wager as a high-indemnity insurance policy for a promotion at his Gallery Furniture business. Customers who purchase a mattress at his store for more than $3,000 will be refunded if the Astros win the World Series.
‘Mattress Mack’ ran a similar promotion in 2017 and refunded more than $10 million in mattress purchases, when the Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series for the first time. McIngvale placed more than $1 million in bets on the Astros with Las Vegas sportsbooks in 2017, which helped limit his exposure from the promotion. When quizzed about his current promotion, McIngvale said:
“The promotion will probably be a little more than it was in 2017…(In 2017) it was about $13 million. So, more than likely I’ll get it all hedged off and I’ve got a little bit of insurance, so that should be fine.”
Leading up to baseball’s postseason, ‘Mattress Mack’ hired two gamblers from Las Vegas to assist him in finding the best price for the Houston Astros. One of the gamblers, Anthony Curtis, said McIngvale was looking to wager upward of $10 million on the Astros. After his $3.5 million bet on Tuesday, he’s definitely making progress!
Think you could win big with DraftKings, just like ‘Mattress Mack’?
