Mattress Mack Net Worth 2024: How Jim McInglave Became a Furniture Mogul

Jim McIngvale, widely known as ‘Mattress Mack’, is a seasoned entrepreneur with an inspiring career and a massive net worth.

As of 2024, Mattress Mack’s net worth stands at around $300 million.

Beyond his extravagant promotions and creative furniture commercials, McIngvale is renowned for his multimillion-stakes sports bets.

Today, McIngvale owns a popular retail chain, Gallery Furniture. He has also carved a prominent niche for himself in sports betting and has a towering presence on social media.

In this post, we’ll delve into his life and business journey to show you how he transformed his modest furniture store into a multimillion-dollar empire.

Mattress Mack’s Net Worth Breakdown:

Mattress Mack’s precise net worth and asset details are not publicly disclosed. However, here’s what we do know:

6 Fun Facts about Mattress Mack

1. Recent Health Scare: In 2024, Mattress Mack was hospitalized after experiencing cognitive symptoms. He remains in stable condition, reassuring everyone that he’ll be fine .
2. Legendary Sports Bettor: Known for his massive sports bets, he won $75 million in 2022 betting on the Houston Astros during the World Series.
3. Furniture Promotions: He often ties his promotions to sports events, offering refunds if his bets win, which drives sales at Gallery Furniture .
4. Philanthropist: During Hurricane Harvey and other crises, he opened his furniture stores as shelters for those in need.
5. Entrepreneurial Success: Starting with just $5,000, his Gallery Furniture empire now generates hundreds of millions in revenue annually.
6. Positive Community Impact: Even while recovering, Mack continues to stay connected with his customers and maintains his philanthropic efforts.

Latest News & Updates

As of 2024, Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale has been in the news for several reasons, both related to his business and his more controversial activities.

1. Health Update: One of the key headlines from 2024 concerns Mattress Mack’s health. Earlier this year, McIngvale was hospitalized due to cognitive issues. While initially alarming, he has since reassured his supporters that he’s recovering well and remains active in business from the hospital​
2. Political Controversies: McIngvale has drawn attention for his significant political donations, which have fueled right-wing causes in Texas. His alignment with conservative politics and financial backing of far-right candidates have stirred controversy, especially as critics argue that his political activities, such as opposing workers’ rights, clash with his charitable public image​
3. Advertising Backlash: McIngvale recently faced backlash over a “Gangster Mack” ad campaign, which featured him adopting slang and references to Houston rap culture. While some found the ads humorous, others criticized them for promoting stereotypes and trivializing serious social issues. This campaign sparked a debate about cultural appropriation and insensitivity, highlighting the fine line McIngvale often walks between bold marketing and controversy.

Mattress Mack’s Early Life and Family

Jim McIngvale was born in 1951 in Starkville, Mississippi, to George, a business owner, and Angela, a stay-at-home mom. He completed high school in Dallas and began his studies at the University of North Texas in 1970. He did not graduate and chose to leave school in 1973.

During his time in college, McIngvale developed a passion for football and even played himself. When he left college, he worked at a convenience store, but was fired soon after.

He saw this as an opportunity to try his luck in the business world and decided to open a health club business. The business was a success for a short time, but he expanded the business to too many locations and failed, leaving him financially strained.

This challenging period led him to return to living at` his parents’ house, a phase he describes as ‘kind of self-defeating’.

Today, Mattress Mack is married to Linda and is the father of four children.

Mattress Mack Net Worth: From $5k to a $300 Million Empire

So, how did a convenience store employee who lived with his parents turn his life around and become ‘Mattress Mack’?

More importantly, how did he manage to earn a net worth of $300 million?

How Did Jim Become ‘Mattress Mack’?

At a low point in his life, McIngvale had to move back with his parents. He spoke about what prompted him to get up and get a job in an interview with writer Noah Kagan, saying:

“One Sunday morning, I got up and turned the television on and there was a religious program where a preacher was preaching messages. So I started to watch for a while, and he said, “Let me tell you something: the world doesn’t know you a favor. You owe the world a favor… Get up, go to work, and make something out of your life.”

Inspired by these words, he took a job at a small furniture store the next day. It didn’t take him long to realize his knack for selling furniture.

In 1981, Jim took a bold step and launched ‘Gallery Furniture’. He began by selling furniture from his pickup truck, investing his and his wife’s life savings of only $5,000.

Initially, his business grew at a slow pace, and the times were challenging. The couple set up shop by the highway and, as he explained it, had odds of success ‘about a million to one’.

This was the period when the oil industry went downhill, and massive swaths of retail businesses failed.

Failure wasn’t an option for Jim and Linda. In 1983, Jim decided to invest the last $10,000 from his business into a local TV commercial spot. However, while filming the commercial, Jim wasn’t satisfied with what he saw. In a spontaneous move, he started pulling money out of his pocket, yelling ‘Gallery Furniture saves you money’.

This very phrase became his trademark. It was an instant hit with the audience and kept his business afloat. On that very day, Jim and Linda made around $25,000 in sales, reviving the business singlehandedly.

During the early 1980s, Mack continued appearing in commercials wearing a mattress costume. This is how he became the ‘Mattress Mack’.

Mattress Mack’s TV Appearances

Fast forward a few years, and McIngvale has conquered the furniture market in Houston with a series of fun commercials. He then turned his attention to Hollywood.

Surprisingly, Mattress Mack was hired to take on the executive producer role for an action-comedy movie. In 1992, the MicIngvales produced ‘Sidekicks’ starring Jonathan Brandis and Chuck Norris. Mattress Mack has bet around 40% of his net worth at the time, equalling $16 million on this film.

Mattress Mack and Norris first met in Houston after the star actor started having troubles raising donations for a childhood anti-drug charity that he was sponsoring. Linda, McIngvale’s wife, wrote Norris a check for $50,000 to support the charity. Soon after, when she learned that Norriss was also struggling with his investor in the ‘Sidekicks’ movie, she wrote a check for $250,000 to assume the investor’s place.

McIngvale picked up the entire production budget for the movie ($9 million) and invested $7 million on advertising and prints.

Scaling and the Fire at the Gallery Furniture Warehouse

In 2009, McIngvale expanded his business empire by opening a scaled-down version of the original store, situated in Western Houston. This was at the time when a disaster struck, abruptly altering the course of his success.

A huge fire burned $10 million dollars of merchandise at McIngvale’s massive warehouse, causing irreversible damage to the McIngvale family’s business. It was determined that the fire was actually set on purpose by a former employee of the store. The employee was later found to be not competent enough to stand trial.

Following the fire, McIngvale was sued by the Greater Northside Management District, the place where his business was located. They were alleging that he refused to pay his taxes of $48,000 between 2005 and 2007. According to McIngvale’s defense, the district did not maintain the area as it should have.

Gallery Furniture Today

In 1991, the company generated $30 million in sales. In just seven years, in 1998, the sales had risen to $100 million a year. According to Mattress Mack, this happened because he adopted an innovative management method by W. Edward Deming that focuses on improving the manufacturing process over cutting costs.

By 2015, Mattress Mack had opened a third store in Fort Bend County, the largest of all three. The store was spread across 165,000 square feet and displayed much more than furniture. To everyone’s surprise, this store was also an aquarium where you could see sharks and puffer fish in a tank, as well as a mini-zoo with monkeys and birds in cages.

Original as always, McIngvale said that this would offer his customers a unique, unforgettable shopping experience and he certainly isn’t wrong about that.

Gallery Furniture now generates around $200 million in revenue per year. It’s one of the most successful furniture retailers in the world.

McIngvale’s Book

In 2002, McIngvale published a book he co-authored with John Ivancevish and Thomas Dueing titled ‘Always Think Big’. The book contains lessons he learned from building his multimillion-dollar business.

Mattress Mack Net Worth: Sports Betting and Other Investments

McIngvale’s net worth is mostly sourced from his company but he seems to have also made quite a bit from sports betting gains. He has a good investment portfolio, too, one that includes several properties and assets.

Real Estate

In 1998, the McIngvales took up residence in a Northgate Forest mansion spanning 6,820 square feet. The mansion boasts seven bedrooms, an Olympic-sized pool, a spa, and Swarovski crystal chandeliers.

In 2008, they sold the home for $815,000 and now live in a 2,000-square-foot apartment on the grounds of their owned Westside Tennis Club, located near Briar Forest. The house is significantly smaller, but it comes with a resort-style pool, a lighted soccer field, a family fitness center, and a yoga facility.

Car Collection

Mattress Mack has a beautiful collection of cars. His car collection includes an impressive lineup featuring a Bentley, a Rolls-Royce, a Jaguar, a Ferrari, and several other vehicles.

Sports Betting

Mattress Mack is a legend in the sports betting industry. He is well known for placing multimillion-dollar bets over the years. What sets him apart is his incredibly unique strategy of using his company’s promotional sales as bets in themselves. Sometimes he even sets them up to hedge against potential losses from betting directly on sports.

It is precisely because of this strategy that people call him the ‘King of free, free, free promotions’.

How does he do it?

In 2014, his company ran a promotion offering to refund for purchases over $6,000 made in the 2 weeks before Super Bowl XLVIII if the Seattle Seahawks won the big game. When they won, his store refunded around $7 million in furniture purchases.

He likely actually made money from the stunt in the end, however, because the press loved the story. It was covered by a myriad of publications, giving Mack as much free promotion for his brand as he could hope for.

In 2017, Mack heavily publicized a promotion where his store’s customers would get a full refund for their mattress if the Houston Astros beat the LA Dodgers in the MLB’s World Series. The Astros ended up winning so he had to pay up for $10 million worth of mattresses. Again, the story was eaten up by the press and gave him tons of free publicity.

This is where his strategies started to get even smarter. He purchased insurance and even bet on the Astros to win to ensure that he wouldn’t lose an arm and a leg if the Astros won. This strategy seems to have paid off and at least greatly diminished any losses he may have seen from the stunt.

In 2019, Jim created a promotion where he refunded any mattress sold for up to $3000 during the season, which would cost his business $20 million if the Astros won the World Series. He hedged the campaign by betting on the Astros to win with a whopping $13 million.

When the Astros lost the series, this cost him $13 million in bets. However, increased sales from the promotion made up for much of the losses.

His betting career has seen quite a few devastating losses but he has never stopped. The kingpin won $75 million when the Astros won against the Philadelphia Phillies in 2022, marking the largest payout in the history of sports betting.

Mattress Mack placed $10M in bets on the Astros to win the World Series — at blended +750 odds across multiple sportsbooks.

He just won $75 million — the largest legal payout in sports betting history pic.twitter.com/cCL2DKgyPL

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) November 6, 2022

In February 2022, he bet $4.5 million on the Cincinnati Bengals to beat the LA Rams at the Super Bowl LVI. This was the biggest mobile wager ever made, and he had to load the bet up to $20,000 increments because of the app’s limits.

If he won he would win over $7.7 million, but, of course he also ran a promotion alongside the bet. Anyone who bought $3000 worth of mattress sets during the promotional period would get a refund.

In February, he doubled down on this bet, setting the record for the biggest single legal sports bet in history in the process.

The Bengals lost to the Rams 23-20.

This strategy of hedging promotions and sports bets against each other is part of why Mattress Mack has continued to be so successful. His creativity and sales abilities are unmatched in the retail industry.

Speaking about these promotions he said, “God knows what I’m going to do next, but it’s going to be fun for the customers, that’s the whole idea.”

Political Endorsements

Mattress Mack is also an endorser of political candidates. He votes in the Republican primary and has endorsed a host of politicians. These include:

• Congressman John Culberson in 2018
• Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush in 2018 and in 2020

To everyone’s surprise, he also endorsed some Democratic candidates including:

• Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner in 2019
• Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg in 2020

Philanthropy

McIngvale is also an impactful philanthropist. When Hurricane Harvey hit Texas back in 2017, the family opened its stores as a shelter for the victims who had to evacuate.

In 2019, when tropical storm Imelda flooded Houston, he raised $106,000 for the victims and once again opened his stores to evacuees.

In 2020, he handed out free masks to people in Houston during the COVID-19 mask shortage.

In 2021, he provided shelter to people impacted by the winter power crisis in Texas.

He’s also worked on special projects such as the one to build the first Mobile Stroke Unit for patients in Houston. He helped raise millions for the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund as well.

Educational Background and Early Career Challenges

Before embarking on his entrepreneurial journey, Mattress Mack studied at North Texas State University (now University of North Texas). His academic focus was on business and finance, providing him with a fundamental understanding of business operations and management.

Despite not completing his degree, the education he received played a crucial role in shaping his business acumen.

Following his departure from college, McIngvale ventured into the health club industry, which did not succeed as planned. This experience was pivotal as it taught him early lessons in business resilience and the importance of adaptability, setting the stage for his future successes in the more challenging furniture market.

Community Engagement and Advocacy

Beyond his business endeavors, McIngvale is deeply embedded in his community through extensive philanthropic efforts and advocacy, particularly in mental health.

Recognizing the importance of community support, he has been involved in numerous initiatives, including scholarships and funding for local schools, which underscore his commitment to education and youth development.

His engagement extends to mental health advocacy, where he has invested in programs aimed at addressing and supporting mental health issues among the youth in Houston.

These initiatives reflect his holistic approach to business and community support, emphasizing the well-being of his community as integral to his business ethos.

Employee Relations and Corporate Culture

Mattress Mack’s approach to business management and employee relations is notably progressive. He advocates for and practices a profit-sharing model within Gallery Furniture, ensuring that his employees benefit directly from the company’s success.

This approach not only motivates employees but also fosters a familial atmosphere, where each member’s contribution is valued and rewarded.

Mack’s belief is that employees who are well-compensated and feel integral to the business are more likely to provide exceptional service to customers.

This philosophy has been a cornerstone of Gallery Furniture’s reputation for excellent customer service and has contributed to the company’s enduring success in a competitive market.

What Can We Learn From Mattress Mack’s Success?

Mattress Mack is a truly inspiring entrepreneur and salesman. He started from scratch with only a few thousand dollars to his name but never gave up, showing us that courage and persistence are key to success.

His success also exemplifies the value of creativity in the business world. It’s absolutely essential that your business stands out from the rest and Mattress Mack has done this better than almost anyone. This doesn’t mean that we should follow in all of his footsteps, however, as sports betting can be dangerous and addictive.

Nevertheless, Mack showed that you can still be smart about sports betting and make it out fine as long as you are careful and hedge your bets. His career teaches us that you need to stand out and plan your strategies carefully but that you also must take some risks to succeed.