Houston furniture store owner to place $3.5M bet on Astros
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Houston furniture store owner Jim McIngvale, otherwise known as “Mattress Mack,” will place a $3.5 million bet on the Houston Astros to win the World Series on Tuesday. The wager will take place at the DraftKings Sportsbook at the Scarlet Pearl Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, according to an announcement from the casino.
The upcoming bet is scheduled to take place in the afternoon, when McIngvale plans to present “a briefcase full of money” while placing the wager that would net him $7.7 million. (He’s getting +220 odds on the bet.)
McIngvale, not unfamiliar with the world of publicity stunts, will place the bet on the day his Gallery Furniture stores end their “Win It All” promotion, in which customers would get refunds on purchases of $3,000 or more if the Astros go on to win the World Series.
McIngvale has said he needs to hedge his promotion, which he says currently would lead to a $15 million loss for his business — and the bet is part of that hedge. According to the Houston Chronicle, Mattress Mack has also purchased insurance, but it’s not enough to cover his potential losses.
The Astros are currently favorites to win the World Series.
In 2017, when the Astros won it all, McIngvale gave back more than $10 million in money from purchases. He placed bets of more than $1 million in Vegas to cover the cost.
Prior to that, McIngvale said he rolled the dice on his promotions. In 2014, he bet customers that the Astros wouldn’t win more than 63 games. They won 70. He lost more than $4 million. Earlier that year, he lost $8 million on customer givebacks when he was on the wrong side of the Super Bowl, picking the Broncos, not the Seahawks, to win it all.
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