‘Mattress Mack’ bets $2.55M on NCAA basketball championship
Mattress Mack is back with another multimillion-dollar bet on Houston to win it all. Only this time, it’s on the Houston Cougars to win the NCAA men’s basketball title.
Fresh off his record $72.6 million win on the Astros to win the World Series, Houston furniture store owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale on Tuesday night made a total of $2.55 million in wagers to win $22,925,000 on the Cougars to win the national championship.
McIngvale, 71, placed a $500,000 wager to win $5 million (10-1) at the BetMGM sportsbook at Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.
He then headed to Louisiana, where he made a $1 million bet to win $9 million (9-1) at DraftKings sportsbook and a $1.05 million wager to win $8,925,000 (+850) at FanDuel sportsbook.
McIngvale has made a series of multimillion-dollar bets to reduce risk on furniture promotions, including the recent one that guaranteed customers up to 200 percent of their money back on purchases of at least $3,000 if the Astros won the World Series.
He plans to offer a similar promotion on Houston (2-0), ranked third in the country, in coming weeks. The Cougars are the 8-1 favorites at BetMGM to win it all, followed by Kentucky (9-1), Gonzaga (10-1), North Carolina (10-1) and Baylor (11-1).
“When we do these promotions, it tends to amp up the visibility of the team. I want to amp up the U of H,” McIngvale said. “They don’t get as much coverage and love from the media as they should.
“They have a really good team that’s No. 3 in the country right now. So it made sense. Plus I’m a big U of H fan.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
