Less than a week from the baseball’s World Series, ‘Mattress Mac’ McIngvale was still placing bets on the Houston Astros.
The Astros are the -120 favorites to defeat Washington Nationals (+100) in the best-of-seven-game Series starting next week. Games 1 and 2 are both scheduled to be played at Houston’s Minute Maid Park on Tuesday and Wednesday.
And Mattress Mac is the Houston furniture gallery owner facing a refund payout of $20m on his “Win it All” promotion. During the year he’s been offering full refunds on mattresses purchased for over $3 000 – if Astros win the series.
He was reported earlier this year to have said he would be willing to put about $20 million at risk. Subsequently the success of his promotion forced him to reduce his refund offer to 50% on Monday. He expects it to remain in place until the first pitch of the Series.
To help cover that $20m, he has, in the meantime, been laying large bets on the Astros. And he is still doing it, according to the New York Post.
$3.5 million is his largest bet
His largest bet to date was the whopping $3.5 million he placed with DraftKings in Mississippi earlier this month. He is also believed to have placed another $1m with FanDuel in New Jersey on Saturday.
And along with other smaller bets he is believed to have exceeded $8.5m in wagers and is heading towards $10m.
“I have some (bets) in Nevada and primarily in New Jersey. They’ve been great for me,” he said. “Mississippi is at capacity.”
McIngvale said Monday when he reduced his refund offer, that he was “getting close to the mark’ but didn’t say by how much. We understand, however, that he stands to win $15m from the bookies if Astros win.
And along with all his other sales resulting from ‘Win it All”, the promotion, he says, will have been well worthwhile.
“This (the promotion) has affected the whole store,” he said. “Our sales for September and October have doubled.”
