How much did Mattress Mack bet on the Astros?
Written by
Mia - Researcher / WriterLast updated:
July 2, 2023
Sports betting is an enjoyable and profitable hobby. There are many teams to bet on, but nothing can replace the pride of betting on your home team. Jim Mclngvale, the famous hero of Houston and a social capitalist, is an example of a sports bettor in love with his home team. This article explores his background and his betting passion and/or strategy.
Who is Jim Mclngvale (Mattress Mack)?
Jim Mclngvale is famous and mostly known as the Mattress Mack due to his furniture business. He is an American businessman and entrepreneur born on 11th Feb 1951 in Starkville, Mississippi.
He is a college dropout like most other successful business people. He later secured a job at a furniture store, where he fell in love with the industry and learned as much as possible. He moved to Houston, Texas, in 1981 to start his own furniture business, and Gallery Furniture was born as a result. As sales dropped, he focused on marketing strategies like distributing fliers to increase sales. But his energetic TV commercial sales pitch was a huge success and led to a surge in sales. His wearing a mattress customer in TV commercials earned him the nickname “Mattress Mack”.
His customer-first approach and great offers like same-day delivery were among the reasons behind his business boom. So much so that the company’s sales reached 100 million dollars by 1998. To share his lessons of building a successful business, he co-authored the “Always Think Big” book published in 2002.
He is a great advocate of the “Made in America” idea, especially Made in America furniture. His goal is to provide generation-lasting furniture of American quality. He is one of the most famous Houstonians due to his positive impact on the lives of that great city.
Mattress Mack believes in “capitalism with a cause” and giving to others. His philanthropy works are known far and wide in Houston and America. For instance, he opened his store doors to those affected by the Harvey Hurricane in 2017. He is worth 300 million dollars as of 2022.
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Mattress Mack’s betting passion:
Mattress Mack has taken an interest in sports betting lately. He has wagered massive amounts of money on the March Madness tournament, the Super Bowl, Word Series, and Kentucky Derby. He also backed a team of poker players known as “The Poker Stallions” in Word Series of Poker 2022.
He has set the record for the largest payout in the history of legal sports betting. He uses a marketing technique to offset his furniture business promotions with sports betting. These marketing campaigns revolve around sporting events.
The promotion for the Astros to win the World Series goes as such: If customers spend $ 3000$ or more in Gallery Furniture sales, they will be refunded if Astros wins the match. It is an example of his many promotions.
He wagered 10 million dollars on his home team Houston Astros to win the World Series. He took home 75 million dollars in profit as Astros claimed the championship. The bet was spread across several sportsbooks with different odds. His biggest bet was 3 million dollars with 10 to 1 payout odds.
As sports betting is illegal in Texas, he drove and flew to neighboring states and placed the bets using his phone. The odds varied from sportsbook to sportsbook, but the average odds were 7.5 among all of them. As a result, the profit from a 10-million-dollar bet returned 75 million dollars in profit plus the 10 million original stake.
He is a huge fan of his home team, the Houston Astros. He once answered a question of whether he would hedge his bets against the Houston Astros, and he replied that he would never bet against his home team.
On the other hand, Mattress Mack’s betting life has not always been rainbows and sunshine. He has also lost humongous amounts of money when his chosen side did not win.
For example, he lost 13 million dollars in bets on the Houston Astros to win the World Series 2019. Another 9.5 million-dollar bet was lost on the Bengals to beat the Rams in Super Bowl. Furthermore, he lost a 6.1 million dollar bet on Alabama to beat Georgia in the college football national championship. And the tales of his wins and losses go on and on.
Final thoughts:
Fortune favors the bold and the risk-taker. A businessman is similar to a gambler or bettor who shoots their shot and sees if the luck god got their back. Mattress Mack gambled all his remaining 10,000$ savings on a TV commercial that skyrocketed his business sales and earned him the “Mattress Mack” nickname. Gambling runs through his blood, which may be the reason behind his popularity and success in business.
He may have had unlucky days when his bets were losing one after another, but he never gave up on his dream. After all, life is too short not to place large bets.
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