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Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale has become one of the biggest betting personalities in all of sports. The furniture store mogul has placed millions of dollars worth of wagers over the last few years.
While all of those gambles haven’t worked out, he’s still found a way to buoy his big bets into major partnerships with companies like Bleacher Report.
McIngvale grew to sports fame with his support of the Houston Astros in 2019. That ended in a devasting defeat in the World Series with Mattress Mack losing the $3.5M he dropped at the sportsbooks.
He’s seen massive losses since, which include his backing of the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI ($5M), picking losing horses at the Kentucky Derby ($4M), a failure with Houston in last year’s NCAA Tournament ($1M), and his support of Alabama in the 2021 College Football Playoff ($6M).
He also lost this year’s college football title game, choosing TCU in what would be a 65-7 blowout.
But things haven’t been all downhill. Mattress Mack hit big on the World Series this past season, landing a historic $75M payout with an Astros win.
As you can see, there’s a trend in his backing teams from Texas, but apparently, he doesn’t want to see legalized gambling come to his home state.
Here’s why from the Houston Chronicle.
“I’m known as one of the biggest sports gamblers in the world. Everything I do, I bet legally. Driving to Louisiana for two hours is not that much of an inconvenience. And I think all that glitters is not gold. They’ve got to look at it, because I’m concerned that the revenue estimates, as far as what’s going to come into the state, are way overblown.
“My change of heart is that I know myself and I’ve seen the light as far as impulsiveness on me to sports gambling,” McIngvale said. “Because I’ve got to drive to Louisiana, it limits those impulses by a factor of 1,000. So, I’m not in favor of sports gambling in Texas.” – Mattress Mack
He first talks about the potential revenues the Lonestar State could see, which he believes are “overblown.” He then gets down to the real reason – Temptation.
Not having legalized gambling, he says, will “limit impulses.” Certainly not spoken like a true gambler.
Many online were quick to react to the comments.
One person said, “Sounds like a personal problem.”
Another wrote, “He’s not an actual gambler so who cares? Most of what he does is just hedging.”
The fans aren’t on Mattress Mack’s side of this debate.