Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale had been on a bit of a losing streak with his gigantic sports bets, but the biggest comeback in the history of the college basketball championship game netted him a huge score Monday night.
When Kansas erased a 16-point deficit to beat North Carolina 72-69 in New Orleans, McIngvale was able to cash in to the tune of about $15 million. With various bets throughout the NCAA Tournament, McIngvale had wagered more than $8.8 million on the Jayhawks to win it all.
As usual, McIngvale’s bets were a hedge against his Gallery Furniture store promotion. If Kansas won the title, he was offering customers a refund on any purchase of $3,000 or more on American-made furniture or Tempur-Pedic, Stearns & Foster or Sealy mattress as long as the merchandise was bought before the title game. When the NCAA Tournament started, the Gallery Furniture promotion was centered around any team from Texas winning it all, but when the University of Houston – the last Texas team standing – was eliminated in the Elite Eight, it was switched to Kansas, as the closest school to Houston still alive in the Final Four.
“I think it’s great because I’m worried about my customers,” McIngvale told Fox 26’s Mark Berman. “The customers bought about $15 million worth of merchandise, so my customers are gonna be way happy tonight. They had a long first half. Thank God for my wonderful customers. They won this game and I love them all to death.”
Before the Jayhawks came through, McIngvale had experienced a rough six months in the sports betting world. During the NFL and college football playoffs, he lost $15.4 million on gambling. McIngvale had $9.5 million on the Bengals to beat the Rams in the Super Bowl. He also had money on each of the Patriots and Titans to go on and win the Super Bowl, but both were eliminated in January. He also bet $2.7 million on Alabama to beat Georgia in the college football national championship game.
McIngvale bet more than $3.5 million throughout the course of the baseball season on the Astros to win the World Series.
McIngvale won $3.46 million when the Buccaneers beat the Chiefs in last year’s Super Bowl.
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