In 2014, Houston furniture store owner Jim McIngvale offered a deal to his customers who spent more than $6,000 at his store, Gallery Furniture: If the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl, he would refund their entire purchase price. The team ended up destroying the Broncos, and McIngvale found himself on the hook for almost $8 million in refunds.
In commemoration of his own 63rd birthday that year, he pledged another refund to customers who spent more than $6,300 if the local Houston Astros won more than 63 games in the regular season. They amassed 70, so once again, McIngvale found himself doling out some serious cash — roughly $4 million this time.
Most recently, McIngvale and Gallery Furniture were in the headlines when he opened his store’s doors to house displaced and endangered victims of Hurricane Harvey.
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With the Houston Astros taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers in this year’s World Series, McIngvale finds himself in a similar position — albeit with a little more insurance to hedge his bet. The cavalier business owner is offering refunds on any mattress purchase of more than $3,000 should the Astros steal the World Series from the favored Dodgers in tonight’s decisive Game 7.
His financial exposure on this proposition is estimated at roughly $5 million, but having learned from his previous experiences, McIngvale is hedging by also placing money on the Astros to win through a Las Vegas sportsbook as well as via insurance policies taken out with underwriters.
Here’s “Mattress Mack” detailing the current promotion in a Facebook video:
According to a Las Vegas Journal-Review article, a source estimates that McIngvale took out approximately $1.8 million in bets to hedge his position.
Regardless of the safeguards he’s put in place, there’s little doubt that this risk-taking business owner will be watching tonight’s historic Game 7 with a very vested interest in the outcome. And so will the countless customers who are banking on not just an Astros win, but a free mattress as well.
