Mattress Mack collects record-breaking sports betting payout, talks to FOX Sports
On Thursday night, Jim McIngvale headed to Las Vegas. And when he got here, he decided he needed some walking-around money, as most people do when they hit the Vegas Strip.
But unlike most people, he didn’t have to find the ATM. Rather, his cash was waiting for him in a couple of vaults at two of the largest sportsbook operators.
Oh, and it was just slightly more than walking-around money. It was a record-breaking sports betting payout from his World Series wagers.
Break the Bank
McIngvale, the Houston furniture store owner more commonly known as Mattress Mack, was in Vegas to pick up his winnings from betting on his beloved Houston Astros in the World Series odds market. Specifically, he cashed a ticket with BetMGM on a $2 million bet at 5-1 odds and picked up the massive payout on his $3 million wager at 10-1 odds with Caesars Sports.”
“We started at MGM, got the big check [at Aria] for $10 million. Then we went to Caesars Palace and got the big check for $30 million,” Mack said in a Friday morning phone call. “Then at 3 a.m., BetMGM was nice enough to open up the [casino] cage and get the $10 million in cash. We did some promotion with it, then gave it to an armored truck company. They took it away and credited it to our bank account.”
As Mattress Mack has done in years past, he ran a bedding promotion at his furniture store. Customers who partook in the promotion, with a purchase of at least $3,000, would get their money back if the Astros won the World Series. Customers who got in on the promotion early in the MLB season would get double their money back.
To hedge his liability on the promotion, McIngvale placed the aforementioned wagers, along with a few more $1 million plays — $10 million in wagers overall — with other sportsbooks. Next up for Matress Mack is getting that $75 million in winnings paid out to all his customers. In total, 7,000 customers took part.
Sweating It Out
As exciting as it would’ve been for pretty much everybody else, the one thing McIngvale least wanted was a Game 7 in the World Series. With the Phillies up 1-0 in the middle of the sixth inning of Game 6, that got more concerning.
“Knowing that the Phillies were comeback kings, with that much money riding on it, I was hoping the Astros could finish it out in Game 6,” McIngvale said. “It was a great game. The Astros were down 1-0, then Yordan Alvarez hits a three-run homer. My store is about 11 miles north of the stadium. He hit that ball so hard, it almost ended up in my parking lot.”
Of course, that’s a slight exaggeration, but it did end up flying over the center-field wall. Houston took a 3-1 lead, added another run in the bottom of the sixth, and that held up for a 4-1 victory that gave the Astros a 4-2 series win. And a big payday for McIngvale.
The Next Big Bet
With his success this year, and 2023 World Series odds already on the betting board, McIngvale will certainly be at it again. At Caesars Sports, the Astros are the +550 second choice to win next season’s championship, behind only the +500 (5-1) Los Angeles Dodgers. Houston is also second on the odds board at FOX Bet, currently sitting at +650 to win it all.
“I’ve already started the promotion. If you spend $3,000 or more, double your money back,” he said. “I haven’t bet on the Astros for next season yet, but I’ll be betting soon enough. The Astros have been to the ALCS six years in a row, so they’ve got a really good chance to make another run at it. We’ll see how they reload for next year.”
And we’ll see if Mattress Mack reloads next fall with another wheelbarrow full of cash.
Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.
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