Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale has built a reputation for his notoriously large sports bets.
The owner of Houston’s Gallery Furniture won about $75 million, believed to be the largest payout in sports betting history, in November when the Houston Astros won the World Series. He also had upward of $3.5 million riding on the University of Houston winning the NCAA men’s basketball championship.
With his hometown team out of the NCAA tournament, he’s found a new team to support: No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic, which is in the Final Four in only its second tournament appearance. FAU took down Memphis, Fairleigh Dickinson, Tennessee and Kansas State in the past two weeks to get to the national semifinals.
