Texans Betting Big in Louisiana as Mattress Mack's Super Bowl Wager Shows

Parked at a gas station over the Louisiana state line, Houston’s Mattress Mack used his phone to place the single biggest mobile wager ever.

The Texas furniture salesman went onto his Caesars Sportsbook Louisiana app in the neighboring state, where mobile wagering is legal, to place a $4.534 million Super Bowl bet. He is known for multimillion-dollar sports bets.

Mattress Mack, whose real name is Jim McIngvale, bet on the Cincinnati Bengals (+170) to upset the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL’s marquee event on Feb. 13. If the Bengals win, McIngvale will collect $7,707,800.

Pulled over at a gas station, he had to place 20 $200,000 bets “to make it work,” he told ESPN.

Caesars Sportsbook called this the “single biggest mobile wager of all time.”

Texans Expected to Cross Into Louisiana to Bet

Mattress Mack won’t be the last Texan to cross the state line into Louisiana to use a smartphone or computer in placing a bet.

Texas does not have any legal sports betting sites, and probably won’t have any until at least 2025, but next door in Louisiana, mobile sports betting became operational last Friday.

From Texas to Florida, Louisiana is the only legal sports betting state on the Gulf Coast.

Judging from Mattress Mack’s wager, that status is working in Louisiana’s favor.

Texans Attempt to Breach Geofence to Bet in Louisiana

During Louisiana’s first weekend of legal mobile sports betting, people in Texas attempted to get in on the action in the Bayou State, according to a geolocation company.

A pin drop map showing activity during the first hours of online sports betting in Louisiana has red pins popping up in neighboring states.

The red pins indicate “geolocation fails,” where people could not place bets because they were geofenced out.

Some of these red pins were in Texas. Others were in Mississippi. Several more came from the parishes where sports betting is illegal in Louisiana.

Sports wagering is illegal in the nine Louisiana parishes that voted against it in a November 2020 statewide election. In Louisiana, counties are referred to as parishes.

The pin drop map was made available by GeoComply, a Canada-based company providing geolocation compliance and fraud-security services.

Texas Lawmakers Can’t Take Up Mobile Until Next Year

As the nation’s second-most populous state, Texas is considered a lucrative market for sports betting in Louisiana, state Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns told Gambling.com.

Houston ranks fourth nationally in population size among metropolitan areas and is only about two hours from the Louisiana state line. In North Texas, Dallas is fewer than three hours from the border.

Louisiana is likely to be a destination for Texas gamblers for several years.

The Texas Legislature won’t be able to consider any gambling bills until lawmakers next meet in Austin 2023.

If approved during the 2023 session, the issue would have to go before voters in a statewide election, meaning sports betting, or any other form of legal gambling, wouldn’t take place in Texas until 2025 or later.

Louisiana Launch Outperforms New York

The Jan. 28 launch of mobile wagering in Louisiana showed “exciting” results during the first weekend, according to GeoComply.

A larger percentage of Louisiana’s adult population participated in mobile wagering during the first weekend than in much-larger New York during its mobile launch last month.

During its initial weekend of mobile sports betting, Louisiana ranked eighth nationwide in the number of transactions, GeoComply reported.