In 2019, famed Houston store owner Mattress Mack dropped a casual $5 million in bets on the Astros to win the World Series. Needless to say, Mattress Mack lost that $5 million when the Washington Nationals upset the betting favorites and took home the trophy in seven games.
But if all goes well for the Astros this time around — and they got off to a good start, defeating the White Sox 6-1 behind Lance McCullers' fantastic performance — he'll make a whole lot more money than $5 million. In fact, he'll more than septuple that amount should Houston come away with a championship this time around. Yes, septuple is a word, and yes, it means to multiply an amount by seven.
As Darren Rovell of Action Network notes, Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale tossed out the first pitch to kick off the ALDS after tossing out over $3 million in combined bets back in June, all of it going toward an Astros World Series win. One bet, a $2 million wager with William Hill, would pay out $22 million. Another $1.25 million that he spread across three different books ups that potential total to $35.6 million.
Who do you think is sweating more: McIngvale or those at the sports books he's betting with? The vice president at Caesars, which owns William Hill, seems to suggest that it might be the latter.
"Obviously the Astros would be the worst-case scenario," Caesars VP Craig Mucklow told Rovell. "This is the first time I've seen something like this wager in the futures market. It's an exciting bet to take, but it would be nice if they got knocked out early."
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And though that $35.6 million total is clearly an incredibly large amount, you have to factor in a couple things that would knock it down a little bit. There's going to be a big ol' tax on that number, of course, and there's also the fact that McIngvale currently has a $20 million liability thanks to a promotion in his store. The deal is that every customer that spends $3,000 or more at his store will get all of that money back if the Astros ultimately win the World Series.
Things are looking good no matter how you spin it, though. A $3.25 million wager all in all for a $35.6 million payout means that the collective odds were about +1095 when all the bets were made. Now, after taking home the first game of their ALDS matchup with the White Sox in convincing fashion, the Astros' World Series odds on William Hill are currently second-best at +400, trailing only the Dodgers at +250.
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