Ever experience a $14 million swing over the course of a few innings?
Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale has.
The Houston mattress mogul spread multi-million dollar betting tickets on the hometown Astros to win the World Series to act as a hedge for a store-wide refund of up to $3,000 he offered to his customers if the Astros won the title.
The Washington Nationals took down the Astros 6-2 in Game 7 on Wednesday, and McIngvale watched his hedge melt into losses by the millions — he told USA TODAY Sports he estimates his losses between $12 million and $14 million.
“The ball didn’t bounce our way. Kudos to the Nats, they played a great series and have a great team,” McIngvale, 68, said. ”The Astros are a great team and had a great series. One team had to win and one team had to lose. It had to be us, but we will live to play another day.”
And McIngvale means that literally. He said he has “absolutely zero” regrets about the wagers and said he’d do it again tomorrow.
“In a New York minute,” he said.
Despite his losses, McIngvale wanted his customers to embrace the refund for the second time in three years. It wasn’t meant to be, he said.
“It was unfortunate because I wanted to give those refunds to our customers,” McIngvale said. “It didn’t work out because of the way Game 7 turned out.”
McIgnvale fashions himself as someone who has been a figure on the Houston media and social scene for four decades, so the local publicity isn’t newfound.
“It just lets (Houston) know that I’m on their side and on the Astros side,” he said. “I’m part of the community. Whatever I can do to support this community that’s done so much for us for the past 40 years.”
The growth of legal sports betting, however, allowed him to expand his national footprint; he placed bets at sportsbooks from Mississippi to New Jersey.
McIngvale attended the World Series with a group of veterans at Game 6 and he took kids battling cancer to Game 7.
“To see those kids, what they’re going through,” McIngvale said, “my problems are totally minuscule.”
Read more at usatoday.com
