Houston Astros' World Series win hands America's biggest punter a 'record' £65 million prize
A furniture magnate has made history by collecting over £65 million in bet winnings following Houston Astros' World Series triumph on Saturday night (6 November).
Mattress Mack, as he is affectionately known, is reported to have placed around £8.5 million on his beloved Astros, who sealed a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 to win their second consecutive World Series title.
The 71-year-old, whose real name is Jim McIngvale, had quite the weekend, having thrown the first pitch before the historic Game 6.
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Mack could be seen jubilantly celebrating in the stands after the game was won, jumping and down and high-fiving his pals. Given his winnings, we can see why.
In the hours following the Astros success, he Tweeted out news of his own big win to his 102.4k followers.
How tweet it is 75 million pic.twitter.com/btaCd8bYY6
— @MattressMack (@MattressMack) November 6, 2022
He wrote: "How tweet it is 75 million (USD)."
Mattress Mack also wrote a sincere message of thanks to the city of Houston, the Astros and his wife Linda.
The worm has very much turned for the veteran gambler, after he lost £7 million betting on the Cincinnati Bengals in their SuperBowl loss to the LA Rams earlier this year.
YORDAN ALVAREZ WITH A THREE-RUN HOME RUN TO THE MOON AND MATTRESS MACK HAS LOST CONTROL
— br_betting (@br_betting) November 6, 2022
(w/ @gallerysports) pic.twitter.com/uyitCDZwzt
Remarkably, one of the world's most prolific betters doesn't actually live in a US state where the activity is allowed, as sport betting is still very much illegal in his native Texas.
Instead, Mack travels to either Las Vegas or neighbouring Louisiana if he does fancy a flutter.
He has even managed to combine his favourite past-time with his work. The Sun reports that the businessman often ties his huge stakes to promotions running in his furniture shops, meaning that anyone who buys a mattress will get their money back if his bet is successful.
As per Bleacher Report, Mack is now the biggest winner in sports gambling history, winning the most amount of money from a single event.
Rally Mack with the 1st pitch! @MattressMack pic.twitter.com/xqZ3J3nGX5
— Apollo Media (@ApolloHOU) November 5, 2022
His £8.5 million ($10m) stake was spread across several bookmakers. He placed $3 million at Caesars Palace, $1 million at WynnBet, $2 million at BetMGM, $2 million at Barstool, $1 million at Unibet and $1 million at Betfred.
Ken Fuchs, the COO of Caesars Digital, said of Mack's win: "What can we say? We just wrote the biggest check in sports betting history to Mattress Mack for $30,000,000.
"Would we do it all again? You bet."
What's your biggest ever win? Let us know in the comments.
Tom Fenton