'Mattress Mack' forks over $7 million in Seahawks win

February 2 Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson celebrates with coach Pete Carroll after Carroll had Gatorade dumped on his head in the final minutes during Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The Seahawks dominated the Denver Broncos 42-8. less February 2 Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson celebrates with coach Pete Carroll after Carroll had Gatorade dumped on his head in the final minutes during Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium in New ... more Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 128 Caption Close 'Mattress Mack' forks over $7 million in Seahawks win 1 / 128 Back to Gallery

Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale knew he lost a $7 million bet from the first play from scrimmage of Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday night when the Seattle Seahawks, the eventual champions, scored on a safety.

The attention-grabbing Houston furniture store owner had vowed "never to do another contest" after losing $685,000 on a promotion giving away free furniture to 100 customers who correctly guessed the winners of both the AFC and NFC championship games.

But he changed his mind and made a final bet with his customers at Gallery Furniture: If the slight underdogs Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos - as they handily did, 43-8 - the store would reimburse everyone who spent at least $6,000 in the two weeks before the Super Bowl and had the furniture delivered by 5 p.m. game day.

McIngvale lost, but still sounded cheerful Sunday night.

"It's great," he said. "It's the perfect outcome for our customers."

McIngvale said he did not take out any insurance to cover the bet. While it's his biggest loss of any contest, he prefers to consider it an investment.

"In the long term, we made a lot of happy customers," he said. "That's what it's all about: building customers for life."