‘Mattress Mack’ bets $10M to win $72.6M on Astros

Houston furniture store owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale placed a total of $10 million in bets on the Astros to win the World Series at six books in May and July.

If Houston wins it all, Mack will take home $72.6 million in the largest payout in legal sports betting history.

The Astros entered Friday as the +220 favorites at Caesars Sportsbook to win the World Series. Houston has a 2-0 lead over Seattle in their best-of-five American League Division Series and is -105 to win Game 3 on Saturday in Seattle to advance to its sixth straight AL Championship Series.

“The Astros have a good team. They’ve got great pitching and timely hitting,” Mack, 71, told the Review-Journal on Friday. “They have a good shot. That’s all you can ask for.”

The bets are the latest in a series of wagers by Mack to reduce risk on promotions at his Gallery Furniture stores. Until recently, he offered customers who bought $3,000 or more of furniture double their money back if the Astros win the World Series.

“After we did the Kentucky Derby promotion, that was when the COVID recession was really coming on and the furniture business went from boom to bust,” he said. “We had to do something to increase sales and that certainly did.”

The promotion now offers customers who buy $3,000 or more of furniture their money back if Houston wins it all.

“The Astros got pretty hot and the amount of exposure went up exponentially,” he said. “Hopefully, I can give all this money back to the customers.”

In May, Mack wagered $4 million to win $42 million in Louisiana — $3 million at 10-1 at Caesars and $1 million at 12-1 at WynnBET.

In July, he wagered $6 million to win $30.6 million — $2 million at 5-1 at the BetMGM book at the Bellagio; $2 million at +533 at Barstool Sportsbook in Louisiana; and $1 million each at 5-1 at Unibet and Betfred books in Iowa.

Houston led the AL with a 106-56 record. The Astros trailed the Mariners 7-3 in the eighth inning of Game 1 on Tuesday before rallying for a dramatic 8-7 win on Yordan Alvarez’s walk-off, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning.

“I was feeling a little down,” said Mack, who attended both games in Houston. “Then the Astros blared at Minute Maid Park that Journey song, ‘Don’t Stop Believin’.’ So I started believing and here comes Yordan Alvarez. That was an electrifying moment when he hit the ball out, as was the one (in Game 2), too.”

Mack took a group of nuns to Game 2 on Thursday who became known as the “Rally Nuns” last year during Houston’s World Series run. Alvarez was the hero again after hitting a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth to give the Astros a 3-2 lead en route to a 4-2 victory.

Coincidentally, Alvarez is a Gallery Furniture customer.

“I think he sleeps on one of our mattresses,” Mack said. “He’s a nice guy. A lot of those Astros players buy a lot of furniture from us. They’re sleeping well, and it shows in their home run prowess.”

For the record, Astros players are not eligible for the promotion.

In April, Mack won $12.2 million on Kansas to win the NCAA men’s basketball title to snap a losing streak that saw him drop more than $25 million since the 2021 Super Bowl.

In May, he lost $2.6 million in wagers on Kentucky Derby favorite Epicenter.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.