‘Mattress Mack’ doubles down, bets $1.5M more on Alabama-Georgia
Mattress Mack is back with another massive bet on Alabama.
Houston furniture store owner Jim McIngvale, aka “Mattress Mack,” placed a $1.5 million wager Sunday on the Crimson Tide on the money line (+115) to beat Georgia in the College Football Playoff national title game Monday in Indianapolis.
Mack, who made the wager on the Caesars Sportsbook mobile app, previously placed a $1.2 million money line bet at Caesars on Alabama (+125).
He has a total of $2.7 million riding to win $3.2 million on the Tide.
McIngvale’s multimillion-dollar wagers are hedge bets to offset possible losses on a promotion at his Gallery Furniture stores that offer refunds on purchases of $3,000 or more if Alabama wins.
In October, to hedge a similar promotion, Mack lost $4 million in wagers on the Houston Astros to win the World Series that would have paid $36.6 million had they won. They lost to the Atlanta Braves in six games.
No. 3 seed Georgia is a consensus 2½-point favorite over No. 1 Alabama in the title game after the line had climbed to 3. The Tide upset the Bulldogs 41-24 in the Southeastern Conference championship Dec. 4 as 6½-point underdogs.
“We’ll see how Nick Saban and Alabama do as current underdogs,” Caesars Sportsbook head of sports Ken Fuchs said on Twitter. “Clearly a lot of bettors are siding with the Crimson Tide.”
Caesars also previously took a $300,000 wager on Alabama from a bettor in Louisiana.
Caesars VP of trading Craig Mucklow said the amount of money wagered on the game “eclipses the handle on all football games this year.”
Mack, 70, previously wagered a total of $2 million to win $46 million at two sportsbooks on the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.