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Who could have possibly predicted this? - BostonCard - 04-28-2026

I’ve posted numerous times about the corrosive effect of widespread gambling in college sports and while a single case doesn’t give me the right to say “I told you so”, I fear this is just the first of many to come.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7235027/2026/04/27/brendan-sorsby-texas-tech-football-qb-gambling-addiction/

Hope he gets the help he needs.

BC

RE: Who could have possibly predicted this? - StanfordMatt - 04-28-2026

I'd bet my mortgage payment that he's not entering rehab because he is genuinley seeking help for a gambling addiction. He's entering rehab to save face and beg for leniency from the NCAA. 

"The overwhelming majority [of Sorsby's bets] were for small dollar amounts on various sports, including live bets at Cincinnati Reds games or on UFC matches."

Right or wrong, college kids have been doing this for decades. My suitemates and I were doing this 25 years ago. The difference is that my wages from the CoHo didn't quite measure up to Sorsby's $4 million in NIL!

RE: Who could have possibly predicted this? - Goose - 04-28-2026

My knowledge of this subject is unfortunately lacking. Back "in the day" sports betting by NCAA athletes was forbidden on the grounds that the only ways to place such bets were illegal. This fact, so the argument went, placed athletes at risk of coercion by the people that facilitated this illegal betting. Today, there are perfectly legal ways to bet on sports events in 39 states. Texas however is not one of them. The QB in question presumably bet in Texas, making the NCAA's reasons for prohibiting gambling "reasonable". However, if the player lived in New York, where such betting is legal, would the NCAA actually have a legitimate reason to forbid gambling?  Pro sports either have an exemption or a CBA to allow enforcement of such rules. The NCAA does not. Where does the NCAA actually stand on this issue, and if challenged would they have any chance of prevailing?

RE: Who could have possibly predicted this? - Jamesy - 04-28-2026

(04-28-2026, 11:41 AM)Goose Wrote:  My knowledge of this subject is unfortunately lacking. Back "in the day" sports betting by NCAA athletes was forbidden on the grounds that the only ways to place such bets were illegal. This fact, so the argument went, placed athletes at risk of coercion by the people that facilitated this illegal betting. Today, there are perfectly legal ways to bet on sports events in 39 states. Texas however is not one of them. The QB in question presumably bet in Texas, making the NCAA's reasons for prohibiting gambling "reasonable". However, if the player lived in New York, where such betting is legal, would the NCAA actually have a legitimate reason to forbid gambling?  Pro sports either have an exemption or a CBA to allow enforcement of such rules. The NCAA does not. Where does the NCAA actually stand on this issue, and if challenged would they have any chance of prevailing?

He also bet on his own team's games.

RE: Who could have possibly predicted this? - Goose - 04-28-2026

(04-28-2026, 02:52 PM)Jamesy Wrote:  
(04-28-2026, 11:41 AM)Goose Wrote:  My knowledge of this subject is unfortunately lacking. Back "in the day" sports betting by NCAA athletes was forbidden on the grounds that the only ways to place such bets were illegal. This fact, so the argument went, placed athletes at risk of coercion by the people that facilitated this illegal betting. Today, there are perfectly legal ways to bet on sports events in 39 states. Texas however is not one of them. The QB in question presumably bet in Texas, making the NCAA's reasons for prohibiting gambling "reasonable". However, if the player lived in New York, where such betting is legal, would the NCAA actually have a legitimate reason to forbid gambling?  Pro sports either have an exemption or a CBA to allow enforcement of such rules. The NCAA does not. Where does the NCAA actually stand on this issue, and if challenged would they have any chance of prevailing?

He also bet on his own team's games.
In a "sane" world it would seem that forbidding betting on events whose outcome you can affect could be prohibited by the NCAA. I am not sure that is actually true, and AFAIK it hasn't been litigated (yet). Each individual institution con forbid such activities in their code of conduct. I think that has a very good chance of passing legal muster.

RE: Who could have possibly predicted this? - jacket3ree - 04-28-2026

The fear isn't that some kid loses money or a lot of money. The fear is some kid is held accountable by unsavory people who lose a lot of money because some kid has insider knowledge that changes the outcome of a bet that said unsavories find....unsavory.

Stanford Matt reminded me that I went to NOLA on several occasions during my college days and we bet on horses up at the fairgrounds where they have Jazz Fest. I don't think that was illegal and why couldn't a college athlete have always done that? I'm not recalling SEC or MAC horse racing being a thing. I don't think I won a single bet ever, but one one of the excursions a very nice young woman who was a high school friend with one of my cohorts had her purse snatched. I don't know what possessed the scrawny me to chase the dude down ('Hey, there's Skittles in there!') but I did and it was pretty cool being a sort of hero for an evening at least. "What if he had a knife or gun?" Good thing I wasn't thinking.

RE: Who could have possibly predicted this? - cardcrimson - 04-28-2026

(04-28-2026, 11:41 AM)Goose Wrote:  My knowledge of this subject is unfortunately lacking. Back "in the day" sports betting by NCAA athletes was forbidden on the grounds that the only ways to place such bets were illegal. This fact, so the argument went, placed athletes at risk of coercion by the people that facilitated this illegal betting. Today, there are perfectly legal ways to bet on sports events in 39 states. Texas however is not one of them. The QB in question presumably bet in Texas, making the NCAA's reasons for prohibiting gambling "reasonable". However, if the player lived in New York, where such betting is legal, would the NCAA actually have a legitimate reason to forbid gambling?  Pro sports either have an exemption or a CBA to allow enforcement of such rules. The NCAA does not. Where does the NCAA actually stand on this issue, and if challenged would they have any chance of prevailing?

While he's in Texas now, and may have placed bets there, he was also playing at Cincinnati and Indiana placing bets, too. . . .

RE: Who could have possibly predicted this? - qwerty49 - 04-29-2026

(04-28-2026, 02:52 PM)Jamesy Wrote:  
(04-28-2026, 11:41 AM)Goose Wrote:  My knowledge of this subject is unfortunately lacking. Back "in the day" sports betting by NCAA athletes was forbidden on the grounds that the only ways to place such bets were illegal. This fact, so the argument went, placed athletes at risk of coercion by the people that facilitated this illegal betting. Today, there are perfectly legal ways to bet on sports events in 39 states. Texas however is not one of them. The QB in question presumably bet in Texas, making the NCAA's reasons for prohibiting gambling "reasonable". However, if the player lived in New York, where such betting is legal, would the NCAA actually have a legitimate reason to forbid gambling?  Pro sports either have an exemption or a CBA to allow enforcement of such rules. The NCAA does not. Where does the NCAA actually stand on this issue, and if challenged would they have any chance of prevailing?

He also bet on his own team's games.

Sigh. Even Pete Rose eventually got reinstated.