On October 23, the Houston Astros fell 11-4 to the Texas Rangers. This loss didn’t only eliminate the Astros from the 2023 postseason but ruined Jim ‘Mattress Mack’ McIngvale’s chance at 51 million dollars.
Mattress Mack placed a series of bets on the Astros postseason that totaled 7.9 million dollars. If all of them had won, he would have walked away with 51 million dollars. To most people, losing 7.9 million dollars would leave them in debt for the rest of their lives. However, Mattress Mack has developed a system to allow him to continue to make these bets.
Mattress Mack owns Gallery Furniture, a small three-store chain in Texas. However, despite the small size of the chain, he still manages to bring in about 30 million dollars of annual revenue. Mattress Mack knew the importance of branding, before he made any bets he dedicated his life to growing his company. While there are only 3 stores now, it started with only one very small store. However, he focused on good prices and customer service and now sits with a net worth of 300 million dollars. So where does his betting come in?
On top of his high-quality service, Mattress Mack also holds a promotion to help bring in revenue. He sets a time frame and a price and any customer who purchases a mattress at or above that price within that time frame will be entered into a chance to get all their money back. But how? How does he plan on giving back so much money? He makes sports bets. Mattress Mack takes almost all of the money he gains from the promotion and puts it right into his bet. However, he puts enough to the side so that he still makes a profit and doesn’t actually lose anything. Obviously, if he doesn’t win the bet all of the money he wagered is lost, but the promotion provides so much free advertising for his company that he earns just as much back. If the bet does win he gives back the money to everyone that participates.
His most recent bet was placed on the Houston Astros to win the 2023 World Series. He wagered almost 7 million dollars for a potential 43 million dollar payout. This bet was lost, but last year, he placed the same bet on the Astros to win the World Series and won 75 million dollars. Despite some losses, Mattress Mack continues to make revenue from his stores, continues to run promotions, and will almost certainly continue to make bets.