Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale says legal sportsbooks need to take even bigger bets, rather than shy away from swimming with the whales and sharps.
“The industry needs to go up as far as what you’re going to take, not down,” McIngvale said Wednesday at the SBC Summit North America conference in New Jersey.
McIngvale is notorious for his huge bets on major sporting events, which are placed in conjunction with promotional giveaways offered by the Houston furniture store owner.
For instance, McIngvale wagered nearly $10 million on the Cincinnati Bengals to win this year's Super Bowl, which didn't pan out. However, the Bengals' loss reportedly allowed “Mattress Mack” to avoid refunding about $20 million worth of furniture.
“My picks are horrible,” McIngvale noted at one point, although he did mention a recent winning wager on the Kansas Jayhawks claiming the 2022 U.S. college basketball championship.
Mattress Mack pic.twitter.com/DYi6lJE6dP
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) July 13, 2022
While his bets may not always cash, they allow McIngvale to grab the attention of furniture shoppers, casual sports fans, and both books and bettors around the time of big games like the Super Bowl. McIngvale said he’s got bets that would pay $41 million down on the Houston Astros to win the 2022 World Series — and on Wednesday he announced he was looking for somewhere to wager even more.
However, a recurring topic of conversation amid the expansion of retail and online sports betting in the United States and Canada has been about operators limiting the amount of money that successful players can wager. McIngvale told the audience at the SBC conference about placing a $200,000 bet on the Texas Longhorns to win the 2005 Rose Bowl, which he doubted would now be accepted.
Even some of the massive wagers that Mack has recently made were made up of several smaller bets. And McIngvale (who was wearing cowboy boots and a custom Astros jersey) suggested Wednesday that bookmakers should figure out how to manage their businesses accordingly so they can survive the odd hot streak.
“I think winners are the best advertising in the world,” he told ESPN reporter David Purdum, who moderated the session.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you
McIngvale also voiced optimism about the possibility of legalizing sports betting in Texas, one of the crown jewels for the U.S. gaming industry. Lawmakers in the state have yet to take the plunge, and the Texas legislature's quirky schedule means members are not due to meet again for a regular session until early next year.
Still, McIngvale predicted that, within five years, there will be legal sports betting in Texas, where people are already wagering with offshore sportsbooks.
“I think those days are gone, that we need to have legal bookmakers that are part of the community, that supply jobs for Texans and for Americans,” McIngvale said. “One of the big things for me is I want to bet onshore, I don’t want to bet offshore. Open up those limits so I can bet onshore and bet a lot.”
McIngvale doubled down on his promotional strategy more broadly.
"I don't have a gambling problem, I have a promotion problem," he said. "Ninety percent of every bet I make is angling towards some promotion."
Mack told the crowd that furniture buying is not exactly a riveting experience, and connecting those purchases to sports betting has helped drum up interest among customers. It's intended to help McIngvale's Gallery Furniture fend off competition from online sellers such as Amazon and Wayfair as well.
“Unless we do something that’s fun for the customers, we’re going to go out of business,” McIngvale said.
This story has been updated to reflect the value of Mack's bets.
