Jim McIngvale, nicknamed ‘Mattress Mack’, was briefly paid $75 million for correctly predicting the winner of the World Series in American Major League Baseball (MLB). It is the largest winning payout ever for betting on a sports match. McIngvale, 71, owner of a furniture chain in Houston, had wagered $10 million.
The final of the World Series in the MLB went between the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies, or: the winner of the American League and the winner of the National League. On Saturday, the Astros took the decisive fourth win in the best-of-seven game. They won 4-1 to make it 4-2 in favor of the Astros. Immediately also the final score, because that made the seventh and final confrontation unnecessary.
Jim McIngvale, 71, had bet $10 million on the Astros as the winner. He spread his heavy bet across several platforms. The Astros’ chances of winning the MLB title in baseball were about +750 at the time. His winnings are therefore 75 million dollars (about the same amount in euros), the largest return ever for betting on a sporting event.
The Houston man is no stranger, especially when it comes to gambling. He once won about $15 million betting on a basketball game in April, but also lost nearly $10 million in February after betting on the wrong Super Bowl winner. And with a horse race, he would have lost 1.5 million this year. Last year he also bet on the Astros as the winner of the World Series and saw 3.2 million go up in smoke. But this weekend McIngvale was partying. He tweeted a photo of himself with a briefcase full of money notes. He also took to Twitter to thank the city of Houston, the Astros and his wife Linda.
The king of mattresses wants to spend the money on financing his marketing campaigns, which he also lost money on in the past. This time, he had promised customers who had spent at least $3,000 at one of his furniture stores that they would get their entire purchase back on the Astros’ winnings.
McIngvale also made himself popular by letting hundreds of residents shelter in his stores last year after a massive snowstorm that left Texans without power. He did the same in 2017 after the passage of Hurricane Harvey.
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