‘Mattress Mack’ bets $5.5M on NCAA championship winner
Mattress Mack is back and betting millions on the Kansas Jayhawks to win the NCAA championship.
Houston furniture store owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale wagered a total of $5.5 million to win $10.4 million on Kansas to win it all at +190 before the Final Four.
McIngvale made a $3.3 million bet to win $6.2 million at Caesars Sportsbook and he placed a $2.2 million bet to win $4.2 million at Barstool Sportsbook. Both wagers were placed in Louisiana late this week.
The bets are the latest in a series of hedge bets by Mack to reduce risk on promotions at his Gallery Furniture stores.
His current promotion guaranteed customers who bought $3,000 or more of furniture their money back if a Texas team won it all. That’s not going to happen. But the promo also featured an added wrinkle that if a Texas team didn’t make the Final Four, customers would get the team that’s located closest to Mack’s store in Houston.
That team was Kansas, which beat Villanova 81-65 on Saturday to advance to Monday’s national title game. If the Jayhawks beat North Carolina to win it all, customers will get their money back and Mack will win more than $10 million.
“It’s going to make a lot of customers happy if they win Monday night,” Mack said.
Mack, 71, said he barely watched any of Kansas’ win on Saturday. He was too busy working at his store.
“I watched two seconds. I didn’t watch the rest of the game. I was selling furniture,” he said. “I can’t sweat those games. It’s too hard.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.