SBC Summit: Mattress Mack’s huge gambles pay off even when he loses

July 14, 2022 12:14 PM
  • Rege Behe, CDC Gaming Reports
July 14, 2022 12:14 PM
  • Rege Behe, CDC Gaming Reports

Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale loves sport betting so much, he doesn’t mind a few losing wagers.

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Over the last year, he placed a losing bet of $1 million that a team from the East Region of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which included two Texas schools, Houston and Baylor, winning the championship. He lost $17 million when his beloved Houston Astros were defeated by the Atlanta Braves in the 2021 World Series. And he dropped another $6.5 million when Alabama lost to Georgia in this year’s college football National Championship game.

He did win $14 million when the Kansas Jayhawks won the Final Four earlier this year, but McIngvale wants more action. At Wednesday’s opening keynote address at SBC Summit North America at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in New Jersey, Mattress Mack challenged gaming operators in the audience to let him bet up to $5 million, at odds of 6-1, on the Astros winning this year’s World Series.

“If you want to take a big bet, I’m here today,” McIngvale said during the appearance with ESPN reporter David Purdum.

While McIngvale might seem like a guy with more dollars than sense, he’s arguably one of the savviest bettors on the planet. Who else can boast that even when losing a large bet, he wins? Or at least breaks even.

That’s because all Mattress Mack’s bets are tied into promotions at his chain of Gallery Furniture stores in Texas. For instance, in 2017, McIngvale told customers he’d pay for their furniture if the Astros won the World Series. When the team beat the Los Dodgers, 4-3, he gave back $17 million to customers who’d purchase furniture during the run of the contest.

But it wasn’t Mattress Mack’s money. Rather, it was the cash he won betting on the Astros to beat the Dodgers.

“People love sports,” McIngvale said. “And furniture buying, let’s face it, is about as boring as you can get, as boring as going to the dentist. So when they come in and get a rooting interest in a team, it doubles interest and makes it really relevant to the customers.”

McIngvale stated that his promotions are necessary, due to increased competition from big-box stores and online competitors, including Amazon and Wayfair.

“Unless we do something that’s fun, we’re going out of business,” he told Purdum.

The promotions started in 2014 when two of Mattress Mack’s employees were sure that Denver was going to beat Seattle in Super Bowl XLVII. That prodded McIngvale to offer customers who bought $3,000 or more worth of furniture their money back if Seattle won.

Mattress Mack thought he would sell $2 million to $3 million in furniture. Instead, every piece of furniture in his stores and warehouse was sold.

“Everything was empty and all these people were getting in line to buy something. So I had to get on top of the desk. I said, No more, we’re done.'”

Deliveries were made through the night before the Super Bowl, so if Denver won, customers couldn’t cancel orders. He was on a treadmill at his warehouse, too nervous to watch the game, but McIngvale knew he was in trouble when none of his staff came back to congratulate him. Final score Seattle 43, Denver 8, and Mattress Mack,   minus $9 million.

“My cell phone rang and it was my wife. I asked her, did we win?” McIngvale recalled. “She said, ‘You lost, dummy. You just lost $9 million. Son of a bitch, make it back.”

McIngvale decided then he’d start placing bets to mitigate his losses. First with offshore bookmakers, and now with legal sportsbooks across the country after the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, Mattress Mack has become one of the most unique gamblers in the United States. But it’s equally true to call him one of the country’s savviest promoters.

“The more sports promotions I can do, the more I can get involved in the sports-betting market, the more the customers like it, the more customers buy furniture,” Mattress Mack said.