Houston Area Furniture Tycoon Loses $13 Million On Astros"Mattress Mack" Bet Eight-Figures On Astros To Hedge Against His Business' Promotion |
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Very few people were happier that the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in the 2019 World Series than those in charge of the sportsbook at the Scarlet Pearl Casino in Mississippi.
The sportsbook won both of the seven-figure bets it accepted on the series thanks to the upset.
The larger of those two seven-figure bets came from Houston furniture mogul Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, who placed a $3.5 million wager on the Astros to win it all in early October. McIngvale added a few more bets on the Astros at Scarlet Pearl, as well as other sportsbooks around the country.
In total, McIngvale had $13 million riding on the series, with $6.2 million of it bet specifically at the Mississippi casino, according to CNN.
This was McIngvale’s way to hedge against a promotion he ran at his furniture stores in Texas. He offered his customers a full refund on mattress purchases of more than $3,000 if the Houston franchise won it all.
McIngvale kept the money he earned from the sales, but lost the eight-figure sum he bet on the series. He told CNN that if he had the opportunity to do it all over again, he wouldn’t do anything differently.
“It was a great season for the Astros and somebody asked me if I would do it again tomorrow and the answer is: in a New York minute,” said McIngvale.
McIngvale ran a similar promotion to his customers in 2017 when the Astros won it all after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Outside of his business and gambling ventures, McIngvale is famous in the Houston area for his humanitarian ways. When Hurrican Harvey hit the area in 2017, he turned his furniture stores into shelters for those displaced by the flooding.
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