It hasn’t been a good gambling season for Mattress Mack, but it’s been a good business one. Mattress Mack placed a $9.5 million bet on the Cincinnati Bengals to defeat the Los Angels Rams in Super Bowl LVI. If the Mattress Mack bet had hit, he would’ve won $16.2 million. Unfortunately, the Rams won 23-20, so Mattress Mack didn’t win the money line bet. But fortunately, thanks to the promotion he hedged, he profited $20 million.
Mattress Mack, 71, whose real name is Jim McIngvale, owns a furniture store in Houston, Gallery Furniture, and to hedge his large wager, he offered an excellent promotion for the Super Bowl.
If the Bengals won, he would’ve refunded any customer who bought and took possession of a $3,000 mattress or recliner before kick-off. He pulled off the hedge super successfully.
He described the sales as “spectacular.” He added that he sold $1 million worth of furniture on Sunday morning and hit his goal of $20 million in sales.
Losing almost $10 million could scare anyone, but thanks to McIngvale’s profitable furniture bed business, at least he sleeps well at night. When asked about recovery from this loss, he said, “he’ll shake it off with a good night’s rest on a comfortable bed.
“I got a lot of faults, like gambling, but I don’t drink and I don’t use drugs,” he says. “My wife and I are resilient. We’ll go home and go to sleep on my Tempur-Pedic mattress. I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and go back to work.”
McIngvale has been running these types of promotions and hedging against them with sports wagers for about 15 years, so he says he’s not feeling too sore about losing his $9.5 million bet.
“The biggest thing I’m disappointed with is the fact that my customers didn’t get free furniture,”
McIngvale has been running these types of promotions and hedging against them with sports wagers for about 15 years, so he says he’s not feeling too sore about losing his $9.5 million bets.
“The biggest thing I’m disappointed with is the fact that my customers didn’t get free furniture.”
This loss shouldn’t be a shock to any sharp sports bettors. Mattress Mack has a history of bad beats. His most recent bets have all been losers, except for one.
Before this $9.5 million hit, he lost $2 million on the New England Patriots Super Bowl future bet. He also lost $1.7 million on a Tennessee Titans Super Bowl future bet.
His only victory came on January 22. In the AFC Wild Card game, Mattress Mack won $1 million on a straight bet on Cincinnati +3½ over Tennessee.
Unfortunately, before that, he lost $6.1 million on January 10 when Alabama lost Georgia 33-18 in the College Football Playoff National game.
If you’re a sports bettor who’s into winning, it’s clear what you have to do, fade Mattress Mack and win you some money. Good Luck.
