The NCAA Tournament just got an order of Big Mack.
Jim McIngvale, the Houston mattress titan who owns Gallery Furniture stores in the city, has made another big bet.
���Mattress Mack,” known for his mega sized bets that have ranged from the World Series to the Super Bowl, flew from Houston to Denver on Friday night, placed a $1 million bet on the Houston Cougars on his DraftKings mobile app to win the NCAA Tournament, and got back on his plane and flew back.
The bet would pay $9 million if Houston cuts down the nets.
“DraftKings had the best number at 9-1 and they were willing to take the full amount,” Mack told The Action Network.
Mack said he’s doing it as a preemptive play should the Cougars make the Final Four.
“We’ll do some sort of promotion,” Mack said. “Maybe if they win the first game, you get 50% off your purchases and if they win the second, the title game, you get 100% off.”
No. 2 seed Houston (26-3) beat Cleveland State and Rutgers to get to the Sweet 16 and plays Syracuse on Saturday. If the Cougars win, they’ll play the winner of Oregon State-Loyola for a bid to the Final Four.
“They have as good as chance as any to make it there,” Mack said.
Mack made $2.67 million on the Tampa Bay Bucs winning the Super Bowl, the end of a long betting drought for him, and used it to pay off a Bucs win furniture promotion.
In 2019, he famously lost $13 million on Astros championship futures to hedge against another promotion if the Astros won it all.
