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HOUSTON — Any time the Houston Astros make it deep in the Major League Baseball postseason, you can bet that there will be a national headline or two about Gallery Furniture owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale.
This week was no exception. The Astros were defeated in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series by the Texas Rangers, which meant McIngvale lost at least $7.9 million in Astros-related bets.
And while this particular postseason didn’t play out (or pay out) like he might have wanted, McIngvale has come up big more than once and as recently as last year. Whenever he makes a wager, those bets coincide with a Gallery Furniture promotion in which customers would get refunds on qualifying purchases if McIngvale’s team of choice wins.
Here’s a look at some of his past sports-based promotions since the beginning of 2022.
- Prior to the 2022 college football National Championship Game, Gallery Furniture had a promotion in which customers who bought a $3,000 mattress set would get their money back if Alabama was victorious. Georgia won.
- In February 2022, customers who bought $3,000 or more worth of reclining sectionals, reclining sofas, reclining loveseats, reclining home theater and recliners would be refunded if the Cincinnati Bengals won the Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Rams won.
- Gallery Furniture created a promotion based around the 2022 Kentucky Derby. If the favorite, Zandon, won, customers who bought $3,000 in made in America furniture or a Tempur-Pedic, Stearns & Foster or Sealy sleep set would be refunded the cost of their purchases. Rich Strike won the Derby.
- Getting in on the March Madness mania, McIngvale and Gallery Furniture had a promotion in place if the hometown Houston Cougars cut down the nets at the end of the Final Four. Customers who purchased $5,000 in qualifying product during the promotional period would be refunded for their purchase. The Connecticut Huskies were the winner.
- McIngvale and Gallery Furniture’s biggest win came at the conclusion of the 2022 World Series, in which the Houston Astros defeated the Philadelphia Phillies. McIngvale’s bets won around $75 million, and his store wound up giving refunds for about that much product thanks to its Astros promotion.
