VINTON, La – Outside the men’s restroom at a rest stop in Vinton, Louisiana Friday morning, Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale pulled out his smartphone and with a tap of a finger placed the largest Super Bowl bet in history, $5 million.
KPRC 2 Investigates learned of McIngvale’s plan for the record-breaking wager and traveled with him early Friday across the state line.
McIngvale made the bet live on the KPRC 2 News Today morning newscast, betting the Cincinnati Bengals to upset the Los Angeles Rams.
The historic wager was made via the Caesars Sportsbook app and confirmed with a simple message.
McIngvale has become a legendary gambler in recent years with unprecedented wagers on various sporting events. In 2019, over a span of several months during the baseball season, he placed a combined $17 million dollars in wagers tied to the Houston Astros as they made a run at capturing the World Series.
McIngvale’s wagers are routinely timed out to coincide with promotions at his furniture store, Gallery Furniture. His current “2022 Big Game Promo” invites customers to spend over $3,000 on a designated mattress and living room furniture and if the “the team from Cincinnati wins the big game” the mattress is free. If the Rams win the customer loses out on the promotion.
In essence, McIngvale’s wager is a calculated strategy, or “liability insurance” as he calls it to cover the costs of his promotion if the underdog Bengals do end up winning.
Last week, he submitted a $4.5 million dollar wager on Cincinnati to win. On that bet, the payout is $7.65 million.
McIngvale said in 2021 he bet $3.46 million on Tampa Bay and won nearly $4 million dollars.
The payout for his latest bet on Sunday will be $8.5 million dollars, but only if the Bengals win. Combined with last week’s bet, that would put his total winnings at $16.15 million dollars if the Bengals win on Sunday.
McIngvale, who turned 71 says this all is the result of his store’s legacy.
“It’s 40 years of retailing. It’s 40 years of taking care of customers,” he told KPRC 2′s Mario Diaz.
As to why a rest stop in western Louisiana? The state recently allowed mobile sports wagering thus allowing McIngvale’s historic bets to be accepted legally by Caesars Sportsbook through its app.
Kickoff is Sunday on KPRC 2 at 5:30 p.m.