Despite the ups and downs of life, a few things are certain. We're all eventually going to die. We have to pay taxes every year. And each NFL season, Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale will make a massive bet on who he thinks will win the Super Bowl.
McIngvale owns the Houston-based Gallery Furniture and is no stranger to making big bets to help promote his store. He's outdone himself this time, though, placing a $4.5 million bet on the Cincinnati Bengals to win the Super Bowl. It's the largest mobile wager ever made through the sportsbook.
https://twitter.com/CaesarsSports/status/1489434006785380357
Online wagering is illegal in Texas, but not Louisiana, so McIngvale had to drive across state lines to place the bet. Apps don't just let you drop $4.5 million in one fell swoop, so McIngvale placed dozens of $20,000 bets to reach his total.
If Joe Burrow and the Bengals—4.5-point underdogs to the Los Angeles Rams—win the game, McIngvale will score a major payday. At +170 odds to win straight up, a Bengals victory will pay back more than $7.7 million.
Gallery Furniture shoppers can get a nice deal, too. Anyone who buys $3,000 or more worth of mattress sets or reclining living room furniture will receive their purchase for free if the Bengals win.
Jim McIngvale with his wife Linda (Bob Levey/Getty Images for UNICEF)
McIngvale had a nice payday betting on the underdog in last year's Super Bowl. When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, McIngvale collected a cool $3.46 million. The furniture tycoon hopes his gambling luck will turn around with this year's game. Since that Bucs win, he's had a series of losing bets. He dropped $3.5 million on the Houston Astros, who lost the World Series to the Atlanta Braves. He also bet $2.7 million on Alabama to beat Georgia in the college football title game; the Bulldogs beat the Crimson Tide 33-18.
McIngvale tried a futures bet, too, putting $2 million on the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl back in November. At the time, the Patriots had won five in a row and had just shut out the Atlanta Falcons, 25-0. The Patriots were 23-to-1 odds, so McIngvale would have had his largest-ever payout. Alas, the team followed up a seven-game winning streak by losing three of its final four regular-season games and got trounced by the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the playoffs.
Altogether, McIngvale has lost $8.2 million since his Super Bowl victory—and those are just the bets we know have actually happened. There might not be a single person rooting harder for the Bengals come Super Bowl Sunday.
