Jim McIngvale made a short trip east to a casino in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he dropped $1 million on hopes of the Cougars winning the national championship next spring, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.

Mattress Mack made his bet at the Horseshoe Casino, where he reportedly was the first person to ever make a bet at its new sportsbook. McIngvale tweeted his wager.

“I do love @CaesarsSports! So excited that they let me be the person to make the first bet at their beautiful, new sportsbook in Lake Charles, Louisiana; a cool $1 million on our @UHCougarMBK to win it all. Go Coogs!,” he wrote.

Combined with another $1.5 million he’s already bet on the Cougars, McIngvale now has $2.5 million on the University of Houston to win it all. His total winnings would be about $22 million while his total losses would be $2.5 million.

His odds aren’t that bad. The Cougars were recently ranked No. 1 for the first time since 1983 but they slipped to No. 5 this week after a home loss to Alabama, 71-65. Houston will have a chance to prove it’s still a top team as the Cougars travel to face No. 2 Virginia this Saturday.

The Cougars will likely make the NCAA March Madness tournament. Should they make the Final Four, it will be played at NRG Stadium in Houston, where they should have a huge fan base in attendance.

McIngvale has placed a wager on the Cougars to win it all before. In the 2020-21 season, he bet $1 million that Houston would win the men’s basketball tournament. The Cougars had 9-to-1 odds, and they made the Final Four, where they lost to eventual champion Baylor. McIngvale would have won $9 million.

Just last month, McIngvale won a whopping $75 million in bets because his beloved Houston Astros won the World Series. He even threw out the first pitch of Game 6, which was the series-clinching win at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.

McIngvale posted the largest-ever bet during the 2021 Kentucky Derby when he wagered $2.4 million on the favorite Essential Quality, who finished fourth place behind Derby winner Medina Spirit, runner-up Mandaloun and third-place finisher Hot Rod Charlie.

His Derby wager was a record for both largest bet and largest loss by a bettor.

McIngvale usually couples his hefty bets with specials at his Gallery Furniture stores. He often runs a promotion that states if people buy a certain amount of furniture ($3,000 or more, for example), then they would be refunded their money if the Astros, Houston Cougars or whomever won. He won even more cash when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in February 2021.

He’s not a snake oil salesman by any means as he continuously gives back to his community. When Hurricane Harvey devastated the greater Houston area in 2017, he opened up his furniture stores for misplaced Houstonians, giving them a place to sleep, shower, eat and begin working to get their lives back on track.

When a severe ice storm blanketed Houston, and all of Texas in 2021, he once again opened his stores to provide warmth and shelter. He gives away dinners to families during the holidays and is often a heavy giver to charities who come knocking.

As for the University of Houston, he has lucrative name, image and likeness (NIL) deals to help provide extra comfort and financial security to the university’s athletes. He has reportedly paid more than $1.6 million to Cougar athletes since September.