Furniture store owner Jim McIngvale — better known to the world as “Mattress Mack” — has made headlines for the humongous bets he’s made on sports … as well as the money he’s lost.
He ended up losing “more than $13 million” in 2019 betting on the Houston Astros, although that hedged against the possibilities of refunding so many purchases from his furniture stores if the Stros had won the World Series.
He also said last year that he wanted to bet $1 million on the Tennessee Titans against the Kansas City Chiefs.
I guess he’s got something about betting against the Chiefs, because this year, he flew to Colorado to put $3.46 MILLION (!!!!) on the Bucs to cover a 3.5-point spread against the Chiefs.
From DraftKings, here was his thinking:
“Tampa Bay is loaded with talent on both sides of the ball and led by the greatest football player of all time in Tom Brady, so I’m betting big on the Bucs who have overcome tough matchups throughout this postseason. The NFL has only seen eight instances of back-to-back champions and none in the past 16 years, so I like my chances going into Super Bowl LV for this trend to continue.
I don’t think it’s the worst of bets. That extra half-point helps if the Chiefs win by a field goal. But can’t he just throw down, like, $500,000 instead?
Interestingly enough, someone else bet $2.3 million on that same Bucs spread. So maybe there’s something these two know that we don’t.
