Houston Furniture Store Owner "Mattress Mack" Has the Worst Luck Ever With Sports Promotions and Now Has To Hedge Over $1.5 Million on the Astros To Cover His Ass
Houston furniture store owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale says he quit gambling 30 years ago.
“I got broke in that habit. I couldn’t pick a big ’dog out of a room full of Chihuahuas,” he said. “I don’t gamble. I just hedge.”
McIngvale’s latest promotion offered a refund on any mattress purchase of at least $3,000 if the Astros win the World Series. Facing a liability of about $5 million if Houston upsets the Los Angeles Dodgers, McIngvale hedged the promotion through insurance policies and bets on the Astros at Las Vegas sports books.
“The vast, vast majority of the hedge was through the insurance companies,” McIngvale told the Review-Journal on Thursday. “But I did some hedging in Las Vegas. It’s all legal, it’s a hedge bet, and it’s all on Houston.
It’s hard to believe how bad “Mattress Mack” is at furniture promotions. First came in 2014 when he put a promo on the Seahawks beating Denver. Seattle won in a blowout.
The company offered a refund on any purchase of at least $6,000 if the Seahawks beat the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. When Seattle won, he paid out almost $8 million.
That one’s tough, but it gets worse.
Later that year, to celebrate his 63rd birthday, McIngvale offered a refund on any purchase of at least $6,300 if the Astros won at least 63 games in the regular season. They won 70, costing him about $7.5 million.
Hell of a birthday gift to give away $7.5 million. To be fair 63 wins is pretty easy to get even if you were one of the worst teams in baseball that year.
So now he’s got one on the Astros to win the World Series. FINALLY he’s hedging and put a bet on the Astros in Vegas for what some estimate is a little under $2 million. It’s insane how bad this guy’s luck is at promos, although he’s worth $75 million and this likely doesn’t matter too much to him, it’s still fucking hilarious. I mean $5 million is $5 million at the end of the day.
Also, the nickname Mattress Mack is absolutely incredible. I mean how do you not buy a mattress from Mattress Mack? All of this is pretty great advertising moving forward. He’s also a great dude and flew out 98 fans, including a bunch of Hurricane Harvey first responders, for Game 6 yesterday on a chartered plane after he held a drawing for tickets and travel.
Fucking Mattress Mack man, what a guy.