Jim 'Mattress Mack' McIngvale places $1M bet on Houston to win 2024 NCAA Tournament
Jim ‘Mattress Mack’ McIngvale has placed a $1 million bet on the Houston Cougars to win the 2024 NCAA Tournament, according to Caesars Sportsbook.
He bet on Houston at +750 on the money line. A Cougars national championship would pay him out $7.5 million.
In 2023, Mack also had upward of $3.5 million riding on Houston winning the NCAA men’s basketball championship. It seemed like a sure bet at the time, as the Cougars were a No. 1 seed entering March’s NCAA tournament, just as they’re projected this season. Eventually falling in the Sweet 16 to Miami, they finished 33-4 on the season and were the top-ranked team in the country for seven weeks — more than any other program in 2023.
McIngvale, a Houston-based furniture chain owner, is known for his over-the-top, absurdly high dollar bets. Just like anyone, some of the bets have hit, some missed — but the biggest one included a $75 million payout for the Houston Astros to win the 2022 World Series.
The 73-year-old native of Starkville, MS typically places bets on teams in Texas, including a $3 million bet on TCU to defeat Georgia in the 2023 College Football Playoff Championship game. He’ll hope his Cougars can make up for his loss.
Mack is no stranger to the Houston men’s basketball program. Before the start of the 2023-24 season, Mack signed a team-wide NIL deal with the team, which valued at $1 million.
“The reality is, obviously, in a large, large thanks to Mack, we were in a great spot last year for NIL for last year’s team,” LinkingCoogs co-founder Landon Goesling told On3’s Pete Nakos in July. “Had a lot of success, obviously, this year moving forward, going into the Big 12. That’s kind of the biggest piece of this whole NIL thing. How do we build sustainability? And the reality is, you need year in, year out support to be able to do what you need to do and to be able to win at a high level and compete.”
Mack also did something similar with Florida Atlantic after they made it to the Final Four last season, which On3’s Pete Nakos has covered extensively.
The Cougars are currently ranked No. 1 in the country at the time of Mack’s bet, are on track to win the Big 12 regular season championship, finish the year undefeated at home and are 25-3 overall. Barring a complete collapse in the final stretch — expect the Cougars to be on that one line on selection Sunday.