‘Mattress Mack’ makes more bets on Astros, could win $35M
Houston furniture store owner Jim McIngvale found more money under his mattress to wager on the Astros to win the World Series.
Besides the $2 million bet at 10-1 odds the man known as “Mattress Mack” made at William Hill last week in Indiana, he placed a $1 million wager at 10-1 at FanDuel in Indiana and $350,000 in bets in Colorado at 16-1 at DraftKings ($250,000) and theScore ($100,000) sportsbooks.
In total, McIngvale has $3.35 million in wagers to win $35.6 million riding on Houston to win the World Series.
“Futures bets are a huge risk, but I figure they have as good a chance to win the World Series as the last four years, and the last four years they went to four (American League Championship Series) and two World Series,” McIngvale said Monday. “It’s not a bad prop. Effectively, I have 11-1 on all those bets.”
The Astros entered Monday with the best record in the AL (48-30) and second-best mark in baseball behind the surprising San Francisco Giants (50-27).
“I knew they had the hitting, but they also have six good starting pitchers,” said McIngvale, 70.
Houston has dropped to 8-1 at William Hill in Nevada, tied with San Francisco for the fourth choice behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (+350), Chicago White Sox (+650) and San Diego Padres (+750).
“Tell them Vegas boys to get right in their price and I’ll spread some love their way,” McIngvale said.
McIngvale has made a bevy of multimillion-dollar bets in recent years to hedge potential losses on furniture promotions. He won $2.67 million on a hedge bet on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers +3½ in this year’s Super Bowl. That wager snapped a losing streak that included $13 million in losing bets on the Astros in the 2019 World Series, which they lost to the Washington Nationals.
The latest promotion at McIngvale’s Gallery Furniture stores offers customers their money back on purchases of $3,000 or more if Houston wins the World Series.
“These are fun promotions that are popular with our customers and keeps them involved in the game,” McIngvale said. “With the Houston Texans and Rockets floundering, the Astros are hot and it’s a very topical prop right now.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
