CNN
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The Houston Astros are robust favorites to win the World Series, which begins Friday, and one of many team’s most well-known followers goes all in on oddsmakers’ predicted consequence for the “Fall Classic.”
Flamboyant Houston furnishings retailer proprietor Jim McIngvale, referred to as “Mattress Mack,” made a sequence of bets – $10 million in all – earlier this 12 months on the Astros to win the World Series.
If the Astros do regain their MLB crown – the team’s first title got here in 2017 – McIngvale will win an eye-watering $75 million, which has been widely reported can be largest payout in sports activities betting historical past.
“The excitement is very real in Houston. The entire town is fired up about the Astros,” McIngvale informed reporters throughout a press convention, including that he had “high propensity for risk.”
“When Yordan Álvarez hit the home run to beat the Seattle Mariners in Game 1 (of the American League Division Series), there were seven million people running around giving each other hugs. “Winning the bet is important but what’s more important is giving money back to our customers who bought around $75 million worth of furniture,” stated McIngvale.
In an interview with CNN last year, McIngvale stated he had guess $3.35 million again in June 2021 that the Astros would win final 12 months’s World Series.
McIngvale informed CNN in October final 12 months that he made the massive wagers to cowl one other gamble of kinds – clients who purchased sure mattresses that value $3,000 or extra will get their a refund if the Astros win.
“It’s a hedge,” stated McIngvale, who’s well-known in Houston for his commercials and for his charitable work in the neighborhood, turning his shops into shelters to assist folks displaced by extreme climate occasions, similar to Hurricane Harvey.
During Thursday’s press convention, McIngvale stated that his first main guess was in the course of the Houston Texans’ first season within the NFL again in 2002.
Mack added that his “wife frets more than” him over the enormity of his wagers.
As a passionate Astros fan, backing the team was a straightforward choice for McIngvale, however he sees baseball’s affect as extra far-reaching.
“Baseball brings joy to the city. The entire country is divided politically between Republicans and Democrats but baseball brings us all together; all races, colors and creeds,” stated McIngvale.
“And I say, thanks to the Houston Astros for bringing Houston collectively. I received to all of the video games and I can’t let you know how many individuals are down there and it’s an enormous deal to them.
“It’s their birthday, it’s their anniversary but they’re there cheering on the Houston Astros. Whatever we can do to make people’s lives better through this wonderful, magical game called baseball, we’re happy to do.”
Game 1 of the 2022 World Series begins on Friday, October 28 at Minute Maid Park in Houston.