Mattress Mack bets $1.5M on Houston to win NCAA Tournament

Houston Astros fan Jim "Mattress Mack" is back. Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Mattress Mack bets $1.5 million on Houston Cougars to win NCAA Tournament

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Nov 16, 2022 2:53 PM ET

Mattress Mack is back.

Per Ben Fawkes of VSiN, Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale has bet both $500,000 and $1 million on the Houston Cougars to win the 2023 edition of the NCAA Tournament. McIngvale received 10-1 odds from BetMGM for his $500,000 bet and 9-1 odds from DraftKings Sportsbook for the $1 million wager.

As David Purdum explained for ESPN, McIngvale recently generated headlines after he successfully placed a $3 million bet on the Houston Astros to win the World Series at 10-1 odds via Caesars Sportsbook's mobile app. In total, the Texas furniture store owner is said to have won $75 million, the largest payout in legal United States sports betting history, through multiple wagers he made on the Astros.

Mattress Mack collected $10,000,000 in cash from his Astros World Series bet pic.twitter.com/Sj5H1DCGX1
— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) November 11, 2022

"What can we say? We just wrote the biggest check in sports betting history to 'Mattress Mack' for $30,000,000," Caesars Sportsbook said in a statement shared by Erich Richter of the New York Post. "Would we do it all again? You bet. While Mack may have won this round on the field, we’re proud of how we teamed up to support first responders and military veterans in Houston, Philly, and Atlantic City. And to Mack – we tip our Astros cap – and remind him that he can now support his Texans and Rockets…both attractively priced at +100000 to win a championship. The Astros are also currently +550 to win next year’s Fall Classic."

For what it's worth, Richter said Mack hasn't yet taken the bait and bet on the lowly Houston Texans or Houston Rockets to do anything of note during their seasons.

As shared by Oddschecker, several sportsbooks currently have the No. 3-ranked Cougars listed as the favorites to win the title this coming spring. Houston has begun the season at 3-0 and next faces the 1-3 Texas Southern Tigers on Wednesday night.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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