Mattress Mack Backs the Bengals for the Super Bowl in a Record-Setting Wager

Posted on: February 4, 2022, 02:35h. 

Last updated on: February 4, 2022, 03:17h.

Steve Bittenbender Read More
Expertise: Legislation, Sports Betting, Horse Racing.

Mattress Mack has made some big bets before. But his biggest to date came Thursday night on the upcoming Super Bowl.

Mattress Mack
Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale at one of his Gallery Furniture showrooms in Houston. The Texas businessman and noted sports bettor made a $4.5 million bet on the Cincinnati Bengals to win the Super Bowl. Officials at Caesars Sportsbook, which took the bet, say McIngvale made the largest wager ever online. (Image: Texas Medical Center)

Gallery Furniture owner Jim McIngvale, the Houston businessman better known by his Mattress Mack nickname, placed a $4.5 million bet with Caesars Sportsbook on the Cincinnati Bengals to win the Feb. 13 NFL championship. As the +170 underdogs, a Bengals Super Bowl win would mean McIngvale wins $7.7 million and get his original bet back, too.

According to a release from Caesars, Mack’s wager is the largest ever made online, and the second-biggest ever made at a legal sportsbook. The biggest was a $4.9 million bet in Super Bowl XXXVI at odds of -900.

As of Friday, the Bengals remain underdogs to the Los Angeles Rams. But the Bengals moneyline odds now are +165.

“The Joe Burrow magic is pulling fans in, especially in Louisiana, with his college roots,” said Ken Fuchs, head of sports at Caesars Sportsbook, in a statement.

Bets Made in Louisiana

McIngvale made the bets Thursday night from a gas station in Louisiana. That’s according to an interview he gave ESPN shortly after he placed the wager. Sports betting is illegal in Texas, and Louisiana just launched mobile sports betting last weekend.

Houston is 100 miles west of the Louisiana state line.

I had to make like twenty $200,000 bets to make it work,” he said.

Mack made another bet on this year’s Super Bowl back in November. At that time, he put down $2 million on the New England Patriots through Penn National Gaming’s Barstool Sportsbook and theScore Bet. Both books had the Patriots at +2300.

The Buffalo Bills put an end to Mattress Mack’s $46 million potential profit in the first round of the AFC playoffs.

Last year, he bet $3.5 million on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to cover as a 3.5-point underdog in last year’s Super Bowl. That wager netted him a $2.7 million profit.

Why Mattress Mack Bets

As is the case with nearly all of Mack’s wagers, the bet on the Bengals serves as a hedge for a promotion at his retail chain. Customers who spend $3,000 or more on either a select mattress set or living room furniture will get their big-ticket purchase for free if the Bengals win Super Bowl LVIII.

Mack first gained national attention for his bets when he started to use sports betting as an insurance policy of sorts for his store’s sales. That began with his hometown Houston Astros and the buzz they generated in reaching the World Series a few years ago.

By having large wagers on the Astros, it would cover any losses Gallery Furniture would incur from having to refund customers their money for mattress sets.

When his bets lose – like they did on Houston in the World Series this year – he still retains the profits from the big-ticket furniture sales he makes. Mattress Mack and the sportsbooks that take his action also get free publicity out of the arrangement.

This time, McIngvale may also take advantage of the perks from his Caesars Rewards customer loyalty account.

“With the millions of Caesars Rewards credits he’ll earn – win or lose – he can enjoy time spent on OUR mattresses at Caesars anytime he wants to stop by,” Fuchs said.