Mattress Mack is a common name in the Houston area. He made a promise that anyone who bought more than $6,000 of furniture from him during a 2 week period leading up to superbowl, that their money would be refunded if the Seahawks won. That wager cost him $7 million. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9417210
I'm too lazy to read the article. Unless there was a legal contract I would just lol and pocket the money like I'm sure he's doing Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
i think you might be right, i think any transaction that's over 500$ in value needs to be in a written contract to be enforceable.
The way I remember it, the only contracts that HAVE to be in writing are those that deal with real estate. Verbal contracts are enforceable in all other cases (although they are not ideal). More to the point, business owners can buy insurance for some of these kind of promotions. The classic example is the jewelry store that rebates your money if it snows more than 3" on Christmas day. An insurance company underwrites the promotion based on how likely it is to get that snow. I doubt that any company would underwrite this promo though. He's probably having to cough up that money out of pocket. The good news (for him) is that there is a 100% (or more) markup on furniture, so he isn't out the whole 7 million. Lots of profits gone, though.