Mattress Mack Wins Record-Breaking $75 Million on Astros World Series Bet | Forbes

America’s most famous furniture salesman has placed another outrageous multimillion-dollar wager on his beloved Houston. And he and his customers have about 75 million reasons to root, root, root for the home team.

For years, McIngvale, who owns the three-store chain Gallery Furniture, has made his headline-grabbing wagers not for gambling glory, but as sensible hedges against his big sales promotions. During the Super Bowl, March Madness, the World Series, and other events, Mack will place a giant bet on one team—either a Texas club or one closest geographically to his home state—and offer customers a full refund if they win.

During this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, for example, he wagered $5.5 million on Kansas and ran a promotion to refund all customers who spent $3,000 or more on certain types of mattresses and furniture if the Jayhawks won. Right after Kansas beat the University of North Carolina on Monday night, Mack and his 20-person sales team received a stream of text messages from their customers: We won! We won! “When does a furniture salesman get a text at midnight from a customer?” McIngvale asks.

One customer bought seven mattresses for a total of $38,000 and another bought $40,000 worth of furniture to outfit a new home. “I’ve always heard about his promotions on the news, but I never needed furniture until now,” says Robert Cruz, who has a new house full of new, free furniture. “When I heard the score I said, ‘Wow. That’s cool.”

McIngvale’s promotions and sports bets have helped him grow his business, which he started with his wife, Linda, in 1981. In 2019, Gallery had $164 million in revenue and by the end of last year sales grew by about 40% to more than $230 million.

The economics of McIngvale’s strategy has mostly paid off. During his March Madness promotion he bet a total of $9.86 million across four bets and won $13.5 million. (Mack’s bets were a $1 million futures bet on the East bracket to win $1.7 million, the only bet he lost, then $2.25 million on Kansas at +190 to win $6.5 million; $3.31 million on Kansas at +190 to win $6.3 million; and $3.3 million on Kansas at –200 to win $1.7 million.)

Gallery sold a total of $12.9 million worth of furniture during the promotion, so once he refunds all of his customers, which he will do on April 24 during a big party in his store, he’ll have more than a $500,000 profit.


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