Solve for this equation: March Madness odds-on favorite Houston Cougars + Final Four in Houston + Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale.
The answer for several sportsbook operators: A looming big-money headache.
McIngvale, the high-dollar-betting Houston furniture store magnate, has $3.55 million in wagers on the Cougars to win the national championship. Houston enters March Madness as the championship favorite, and if it goes all the way, Mattress Mack will clear $35 million in profit. Which he will then turn around and give to his customers since, per usual, the bets are a hedge against a promotion at his furniture store.
And he might not be done betting yet. Let’s dive into how McIngvale reached this point and what might still be coming.
Mattress Mack Impact
Usually, McIngvale’s promotions are on bedding sets that run $3,000 or more for customers. Hence his nickname of Mattress Mack. In this instance, customers who buy $5,000 or more worth of furniture – anything in the store – get their money back if the Cougars lift the trophy on April 3.
The promotion has been going on for months and will continue for at least another week, McIngvale said. All his hedge bets were made early in the season, including three seven-figure wagers: $1.05 million on Houston +850 at FanDuel Sportsbook; $1 million on Houston +900 at DraftKings; and $1 million on Houston +800 at Caesars Sports.
In addition, Mattress Mack made two $500,000 bets on Houston, at +1000 with BetMGM and +900 with Barstool Sportsbook. Houston (31-3) is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, and McIngvale rightly feels pretty good at the moment.
“The Cougars have a good team. They have a good shot,” he said in an understatement of the +500 favorites. “It’s like the Astros last season. They’ve got a good path to get there and just have to go out and play well.”
Astro-nomical Win
McIngvale knows plenty about the Astros. Off that World Series title, he raked in more than $70 million from futures bets. Now, he’s aiming for another $35 million-plus and hoping hometown advantage comes into play. If the Cougars reach the Final Four, they’ll be sleeping in their own beds.
“The Final Four here in Houston is a huge element of it, in addition to Houston being successful in the NCAA Tournament lately,” McIngvale said. “I thought those things were good for a futures bet.”
In 2018-19, Houston reached it’s first Sweet 16 in 35 years. Then in 2020-21, the Cougars made it to the Final Four before losing to eventual champion Baylor. Last year, Houston bowed out to Villanova after making a run to the Elite Eight.
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Oddsmakers Buckle Up
No surprise, McIngvale’s $1 million bet at Caesars is that book’s largest March Madness wager, according to Adam Pullen, assistant director of trading. The only other bettor who stands to win more than $1 million: a Virginia customer who put a series of bets – totaling just $1,127 – on No. 12 seed and huge long shot Oral Roberts.
If the seemingly impossible happens for Oral Roberts, that bettor will clear $1.5 million. A far bigger problem for Caesars and the rest of the aforementioned books is the Mattress Mack money.
“We’re losers on Houston, Oral Roberts and West Virginia,” Pullen said, though certainly, the risk room isn’t that worried about the latter two.
“That Mack bet on Houston skews everything. Usually, it’d be anywhere from five to 10 teams that we have liability on. Having three this year is abnormally low, [but] we rarely get $1 million bets on college basketball futures.”
And Mack might not be done yet, as his customer base continues to pile in on the promotion.
“Any promotion that focuses on a local team has more oomph to it,” he said. “If the Cougars keep winning, then I’ll probably have to make some more bets.”
To reiterate, pretty much all his winnings go to offset his furniture promotions. And Mattress Mack has lost a lot of these big wagers, too. But it’s still fascinating to follow. As Houston prepares for its first-round game against No. 16 seed Northern Kentucky on Thursday night, McIngvale is in full coach-speak mode.
“All I know right now is that they’ve gotta beat Northern Kentucky. It’s one game at a time,” he said. “Win Thursday night, then worry about Saturday.”
Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.
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