Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, a Houston-area furniture salesman who has gained great notoriety for his placing exorbitantly large sports bets, has outdone himself this time. McIngvale has placed a record-setting bet on the Cincinnati Bengals to win Super Bowl LVI. According to a report by David Purdum of ESPN, McIngvale put $4.5 million on the Bengals to beat the Los Angeles Rams at +170 odds, a wager which would earn him $7.7 million if successful.
McIngvale placed his bet on his mobile betting account with Caesars Sportsbook when pulling over at a gas station after crossing the Texas border into Louisiana. According to Caesars, McIngvale’s bet marks the single biggest mobile sports wager of all-time and the second-largest Super Bowl wager in history.
A $4.9 million bet at -900 odds was once placed on the St. Louis Rams to beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI, which the Patriots ended up winning, 20-17.
McIngvale has gained great notoriety in the sports world as he has used the market as a means of mitigating risk on furniture giveaways. Last baseball season, McIngvale spread approximately $13 million on bets on the Houston Astros to win the World Series while offering to refund anyone who spent more than $3,000 on furniture at his store.
McIngvale will be repeating the same practice on his Bengals bet.
“At Caesars Sportsbook we love taking epic wagers on massive events like the Super Bowl,” Caesars Sportsbook Head of Sports Ken Fuchs said in a statement shared by the New York Post. “The Joe Burrow magic is pulling fans in, especially in Louisiana with his college roots. With this $4.5 million bet on Joe and the Bengals, Mack will make history again.”
The Bengals are playing in the Super Bowl for the third time in their history, and for the first time since Super Bowl XXIII at the end of the 1988 season. Both of Cincinnati’s Super Bowl trips have ended in heartbreak, with both being late-game losses to the San Francisco 49ers dynasty of the 1980s.
