How much money would you bet on a team for the Super Bowl?
For 69-year-old furniture store owner, Jim McIngvale, that magical number was 3.46 million dollars, and he bet it all on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win or lose by no more than three. Fortunately for McIngval, that’s exactly what happened, netting him over 6 million dollars in profit. While betting isn’t legal in McIngvale’s state of Texas, he actually called Draftkings.com, who flew him out to place his record-breaking bet.
That’s right! Tom Brady isn’t the only one setting records, as Mcingvale now holds the honor of making one of the biggest bets in Super Bowl history. The record still stands at 3.5 million dollars by Billy Waters, who bet on the 2010 matchup between the Colts and The Saints. Interestingly enough, that’s the year The Saints beat The Colts 31-17, which Walters bet to happen. No one ever found out how much he made on the wager, but it is estimated to have been quite a lot given the fact that the Saints came into the game as the underdogs.
What is also interesting is the fact that McIngale promised free mattresses to his costumers if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won, which they ended up doing in lopsided fashion. How did he know the Buccaneers were gonna win, though? How did he manage to bet such an outrageous sum on the underdog and end up coming out on top?
“Tampa Bay is loaded with talent on both sides of the ball and led by the greatest football player of all time in Tom Brady, so I’m betting big on the Bucs who have overcome tough matchups throughout the postseason,” McIngvale said in a statement to DraftKings about the bet prior to the game.
The American Gambling Association estimated that 4.3 billion dollars were wagered on Super Bowl 55, with over 7.6 million people taking part this time around. That’s a 63% increase from last year and shows how popular sports betting is in America. Whether that leads to more relaxed gambling laws in the future remains to be seen, but congratulations to Mr. Matresss Mack, who netted 6.3 million dollars and used it to give back to his community.
