From cash jackpots to pizza, Texas Rangers fans are betting big on a World Series win

If it goes his way, Arlington Mayor Jim Ross will soon feast on wood-fired pizza from Pizzeria Blanco, a Phoenix favorite.

And if not, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego will get a taste of Hurtado Barbecue, the Arlington fixture and official barbecue restaurant of the Texas Rangers.

The two hometown mayors placed a friendly wager this week on the 2023 World Series, which opens Friday at Arlington’s Globe Life Field. In addition to dinner, the mayor of the losing team will don the winning team’s jersey to a city council meeting.

“I’m a pizza connoisseur. It’s my favorite food group,” Ross quipped to The Dallas Morning News. “So it better be good, and I’m sure it will be.”

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The World Series is here, and that means baseball fans and sports bettors are anxiously checking their betting slips and placing last-minute wagers for dinners, bragging rights and cash, of course.

North Texas might not have its own Jim McIngvale, better known as “Mattress Mack,” the Houston furniture magnate who won a record $75 million last year when the Astros beat the Phillies in the 2022 World Series. McIngvale did not fare so well this year, losing some $10 million when the Astros lost to the Rangers in the ALCS.

Even yet, some lucky bettors could see steep payouts if the Rangers win. Few predicted a Texas Rangers-Arizona Diamondbacks World Series when betting opened last fall, with 1,750 to 1 odds.

Mike Lara, an Arlington native and lifelong Rangers fan, jumped on the Rangers’ slim chance of making it to the World Series. While driving from Chicago to Green Bay last November to watch the Dallas Cowboys play the Green Bay Packers, he and his wife, Belinda, made a 20-minute detour to a Caesar’s Palace outside of Chicago to place $100 on the Rangers capturing the title. At the time, the odds were 80:1 (a 1 in 80 shot), meaning he could win $8,000.

Growing up, Lara attended games with his father, who has since died. He would be cheering for the Rangers, he said, with or without a bet.

“This is my team. It’s my hometown. It’s in my blood,” said Lara, a manufacturing representative for the electrical industry. “The money just makes it a little more fun.”

Although sports betting is illegal in Texas, some 30 states now permit some form of it. In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a law prohibiting most states from legalizing the practice. Since then, Americans have legally bet more than $265 billion on sports, with Nevada still the center of U.S. gambling.

Kristy and Mark Kundysek were in Las Vegas for work in June when the couple placed $200 on the Rangers to take the World Series. The Kundyseks recalled first watching the Rangers play when they were dating in the 70s, and later with their young sons, now 23 and 24.

If the Rangers win, the couple, who own an athletic flooring company in Euless, will win $2,200, which they will likely spend on a celebratory dinner and bottle of wine. And if not, there’s always next year.

“I have a feeling we will be World Series contenders for years to come,” Mark Kundysek said. “We’ve got a phenomenal team.”

For Frisco city council member Brian Livingston, the playoffs have been fraught. While in Las Vegas in early April with his wife, Brittany Livingston, he bet $50 on the Rangers winning the series at 100:1 odds. He also bet $20 more the team would win the ALCS.

Livingston left the betting slips in his hotel room, thinking his wife packed them. She assumed they were trash and left them. They called their hotel, The Mirage, with no luck. So far, the couple has lost out on a $1,200 jackpot. If the Rangers win, the betting slip would be worth an additional $5,000.

During Game 7 against the Astros, he walked into the living room to find his wife, not usually a baseball fan, anxiously watching the first inning. “We’re already up 3-0,” she told him, distraught. But even without a cash payout, Livingston said the family is still cheering for the Rangers.

“We’re still Rangers fans. I hope we win. It’s our time,” he said. “Next time, I’ll put the tickets in my wallet.”