Texas millionaire places largest mobile bet ever on Super Bowl

As online gambling gains ground in the US, the stakes seem to have taken another step higher as well-known Houston businessman wagers $4.5 million on the Cincinnati Bengals to win the Super Bowl.

Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale is famously not shy when betting. In just the last year, he has won $3.46 million on last year’s Super Bowl, lost $3.5 million on the Astros in the World Series, and lost $2 million on the Patriots making it to the Super Bowl. He is definitely an all-in kind of guy.

And now he has plumped for Joe Burrow and the Bengals. Betting action in Louisiana and the surrounding area has been strongly in favor of the Bengals, riding that Joe Burrow magic wave of adoration left over from his LSU roots. Online and mobile betting is illegal in Texas, so the owner of the Gallery Furniture retail chain drove from Houston to Louisiana, where it is legal, and made a series of $200,000 bets with the Caesars Sportsbook app.

“At Caesars Sportsbook we love taking epic wagers on massive events like the Super Bowl,” said Ken Fuchs, head of sports at Caesars Sportsbook, in a news release. “With this $4.5 million bet on Joe and the Bengals, Mack will make history again. And with the millions of Caesars Rewards credits he’ll earn - win or lose - he can enjoy time spent on OUR mattresses at Caesars anytime he wants to stop by.”

This wager is second only to a $4.9 million bet placed on the 2002 Super Bowl. If Burrow and Ja’Marr can hook up and win the game, Mattress Mack is due a payout of $7.7 million on his flutter. But McIngvale is taking his faith one step further. Any customer who spends $3,000 or more at Gallery Furniture in the runup to the Super Bowl will get a full refund if the Bengals win. That is someone who sounds like a true believer, and he is not afraid to put his money where his mouth is.