Written by :
Published on :
Beloved furniture mogul and pro gambler Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale has to reassure his wife he does not have a gambling addiction.
"I have a promotions problem," he said during an early panel Wednesday at the much talked about 2022 SBC Summit North America.
Well, it seems to be working. No single gambler has drawn more attention nationally than "Mattress Mack".
But it hasn't been lost on McIngvale that some pros are pissed he seems to be able to get down on big bets due to his well-established name.
“Open up those windows. I bet onshore a lot. Every time I bet, you get as much publicity as you want and people can live vicariously through what I bet.”
“I think winners are the best advertising in the world,” he said. “Winners make the business and just figure out in your business model how to get enough margin where you can overcome someone on a hot streak. Because by definition. when there is a hot streak, a cold streak is coming. Nobody wins all the time.”
Mack, a friend of the Gambling911.com website, placed a whopping $4.5 Million Super Bowl bet on Caesars App, something others have had a tough time doing.
As a Texan, he had to cross the border to Louisiana to make what was a record bet with a U.S. regulated sportsbook at the time. Louisiana recently began licensing sportsbooks, both retail and mobile. A handful of parishes still prohibit the activity.
Caesars had owned William Hill at the time McIngvale placed his monster bet.
Watch below as pro sports bettor Gadoon “Spanky” Kryollos gets tossed from a William Hill retail outlet in New Jersey for placing a bet that was well under Mack's Super Bowl limit.
It is really a shame winning bettors are shown the door at New Jersey’s new sports books but losers are welcomed with open arms. @steveedelsonapp @AsburyParkPress @DavidPurdum @News12NJ @StevePoliti @megbakertv @VSiNLive @BFawkesESPN @ActionNetworkHQ pic.twitter.com/RpZQlBG0Ap
— spanky (@spanky) June 28, 2018
Casears appears to be cut from the same cloth.
Was at Turning stone casino yesterday which is Caesars Sportsbook their max on a total in college BB was only $500
— Lucky Luciano (@acerman01) January 28, 2021
Then went to kiosk to place bet and they said that ticket would have to be refunded cause I maxed at window
Big book small limits !!!! Lol
Our own Thomas Somach has a theory as to why the books love Mac.
Most of his big bets don't win, at least not the public one's. He lost his Super Bowl bet(s) - the plural in that he got down some other losing wagers.
Then again, McIngvale claims other sportsbooks have turned him down or given him less-favorable odds.
We sat down with Caesars, who wouldn't admit the real reason why Mack is allowed to get down big with them.
“Houston business mogul Mattress Mack did place the single largest legal mobile sports wager of all-time, to our knowledge, using the Caesars Sportsbook app in Louisiana,” Caesars spokesman Bradley Harwood told Gambling 911 after taking that mega Super Bowl wager.
“Mack placed bets totaling $4,534,000 on the Cincinnati Bengals moneyline of +170 against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI. If the Bengals pull off the upset, Mack wins $7,707,800.
“The $4.5 million in bets is the second-biggest legal Super Bowl total wager ever placed, only trailing a $4.9 million bet at -900 odds during the 2002 Super Bowl.”
CNBC's Contessa Brewer admitted Wednesday that professional sports bettors flooded her email box after her hit piece on the offshore sports betting industry last week, the only mainstream media outlet to pay any attention to this story.
When Brewer told FanDuel CEO Amy Howe sports bettors advised her they play with offshore books like Bovada because the regulated U.S. market limits their bets to $250 max, Howe shot back that "Bovada does not pay taxes."
After Brewer insisted she was right to write the damning piece without admitting that two of the three books she referenced have been around for 20 plus years with hardly a single complaint, Howe was quick to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
"Whether they tell you this or not, 25% of these consumers will not get paid," Howe said without citing any sources.
CNBC parent Comcast and NBC Sports are investors in FanDuel, for the record.
SBC's Jessica Welman writes that, love him or hate him, it is hard to argue McIngvale isn’t crucial in helping grow sports betting awareness in the US.
She writes:
His big bets are hedges or, more accurately, promotions, and they raise questions about responsible gambling, betting limits, and best business practices
As for why Mack does it, she observes:
McIngvale’s bets are less bets and more hedges. The wagers tie into promotions at his Gallery Furniture stores, where customers can cash in on discounted or free furniture if Texas-area teams succeed.
He told our own Thomas Somach as much late last year.
It pains us to say that Mack had another loser, this time on his beloved Astros.
“This is a hedge bet,” said McIngvale, who traveled to Atlanta for Games 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series and who has 35 season tickets for the Astros.
“In the past year I have sold 4,000 mattresses at $3,000 each. If the Astros win the World Series, every one of those mattress buyers will be refunded the full amount, which will be a total of about $12 million. After paying that out, it will leave a little bit of pocket change for me.
“In brick and mortar retail these days we are threatened by Amazon and other online dealers,” he continued. “We have to do something that makes us relevant.
“Giving the customer a chance to get their money back on a popular sports promotion has been a great way to increase interest in our store and get a lot of buzz. I’ve gotten a lot of media buzz on the futures bet so it’s working right now.”
- Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
