Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale is at it again. The Houston furniture store owner has millions upon millions of dollars riding on the Houston Astros to win the World Series. According to the Astros diehard, he stands to win over $70 million should the ‘Stros win it for the second year in a row.
A complete list of his bets is tough to come by, but a tweet of a brief interview shows three of them, all with DraftKings: $2 million to win $14 million, $500,000 to win $8 million, and $500,000 to win $4.5 million, the latter if the Astros are the “conference winner,” which we would assume means American League champs.
McIngvale also has bets at Caesars from both before the season and the playoffs started.
Mattress Mack has been making massive wagers for years, usually on his favorite teams – Astros being at the top – and always on big events. He places the bets in conjunction with sales promotions at his store, Gallery Furniture. Right now, customers who spend at least $3,000 on a mattress purchase will receive a full refund if the Astros (or, as the Gallery Furniture website says, probably because of MLB rules, the “baseball team from Houston”) win the World Series.
So, if the Astros win, McIngvale will take a bath on customer refunds, but will win tens of millions on his bets. If the Astros lose, he’ll lose the money he wagered, but gain tons of sales. Even if he is a net money loser, McIngvale sees it as a marketing expense.
The Astros are in good shape. They finished the regular season at 90-72, the sixth-best record in baseball, winning the AL West, and earning the #2 seed in the American League playoff bracket. They are current up 2-1 in a best-of-five series against the AL Central champion Minnesota Twins in the ALDS. Should the Astros win that series, they will move on to the American League Championship Series against in-state divisional rival Texas Rangers, who just pounded the Baltimore Orioles in the three straight games.
Last year, McIngvale placed $10 million in total bets on the Astros to win it all at average odds of +750. His $75 million payout was the largest in sports betting history.
Mattress Mack also won $10.4 million in 2022 on the Kansas Jayhawks winning the NCAA Mens’ Basketball championship, but he wasn’t so fortunate with last year’s Super Bowl pick, losing $4.5 million when the Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Astros have been in the World Series four out of the last six seasons. Naturally, Mattress Mack lost money in 2019 and 2021, when the Astros were defeated one series away from the title. In 2019, he lost $11.6 million when they lost to the Washington Nationals, and in 2021, he lost $3.5 million when they lost to the Atlanta Braves (a rematch which could happen this year). But think of all the mattresses he sold.
