Booki Group CEO Jason Scott has taken many a big bet in his career, but one stands out above all others for many reasons.
Scott was targeted by one of America’s biggest bettors, the legendary “Mattress Mack”. And Mack came to collect his bet in true Mack fashion: in his private jet, in cash, with a wheelbarrow.
“It was 2022 World Series. It was Astros v Phillies,” Scott recounts.
“Mack had $2 million at 4/1 with BetMGM about a third of the way into the season on the Astros.”
Scott was CEO of BetMGM at the time, so the bet had him sweating bullets.
“The Astros ended up winning the Series 4-2. We had a little hope after the game three was won by the Phillies 7-0, to go to 2-1 up, however it was a procession after that.”
“Mack has a huge bedding business around Texas and the southwest. He regularly ran promotions around mainly the Astros and Tennessee Titans where if they won a game or a title any mattresses purchased in a certain time frame received a 100% cash refund.”
“The bets were insurance. It’s a great model to create interest. He had several smaller bets with BetMGM previously.”
“My phone rang the morning after the final game and Mack asked if he could be paid in cash in Vegas. I figured we had lost 8 million, we may as well get some publicity out of it.”
“$10 million cash needs a lot of security for us initially, then for Mack once the money is handed over. He flew his private jet into Harry Reid International in LV between 1:00 and 2:00 and transferred the money from our vans by wheelbarrow.”
“He’s pretty strong for a man in his eighties.”
It was the biggest payout of Scott’s life, and probably the only time a bookmaker has ever watched a wheelbarrow full of money disappear into the Nevada desert sky.
🗣 “This money is HEAVY!” – @MattressMack showed up with a WHEELBARROW to load $10,000,000 in cash onto the jet 😅💰 pic.twitter.com/XCI8TstCRd
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) November 11, 2022
