Mention the name Jim McIngvale to most people living outside the U.S.A, and they will have no clue whatsoever who he is, however people living in America will probably know him as “Mattress Mack” who is the flamboyant owner of the Gallery Furniture retail chain.
However, whilst the ongoing promotional offers for his retails stores are popular with customers and he has often starred personally in many of those advertisements too, he has also just found some additional fame in the last 24 hours by placing what many people believe is one of the largest ever sports bets placing in the U.S.
Yesterday he causally wandered into the Scarlet Pearl Casino in D’Iberville in Miss and made his way over to the casinos recently opened sportsbook and placed a mind-blowing bet of some $3.5 million on the Astros to win the World Series.
It is DraftKings who operate the sportsbook in the Scarlet Pearl Casino, and from all accounts they were more than happy to take that very sizeable sports bet and gave McIngvale what many sports bettors are convinced are generous odds too.
As for just what odds he did manage to get on the Astros winning the World Series, well he got odds of 2.2 to 1, and as such DraftKings do face a massive $7.7million pay-out if the Astros do go on to win it.
Whether that bet is one that is likely to pay off big style or not, well we will of course all have to wait and see, but you have to admit his bravery certainly isn’t lacking in backing his opinion on the chances of the Astros this season to win the World Series with his own cold hard cash.