Every sports team and league, at every level, ought to be terrified by this story. We\u2019ve known for years how easy it is for gamblers to slide from recreational to addicted, and in turn, how easy it is for the financially vested to overlook a problem until it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
Before we get any deeper here, let\u2019s acknowledge the obvious: good on Sorsby for taking this step. Addiction is a disease, one that requires everyone involved \u2014 the victim and their family and loved ones \u2014 to step up and meet its challenge. Sorsby is responsible for his own problems, yes, but admitting that he needs help solving them is a necessary first step. Texas Tech deserves credit, too, for standing behind Sorsby rather than pitching him overboard, and it should continue to do so.<\/p>\n
![\"Nov](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e6a77f7b-9155-4c4f-8988-09de220a84a7.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Brendan Sorsby was to be paid millions to quarterback Texas Tech in 2026. Now, a gambling addiction will threaten the entire Red Raiders’ season. (Rob Gray-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect \/ REUTERS)<\/p>\n
According to an ESPN investigation, Sorsby placed thousands of bets through a phone app. While redshirting at Indiana, he bet on the Hoosiers \u2014 always to win games, apparently, and never while he was in the game.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need to even believe Sorsby\u2019s accounting of his gambling habits to see just how flimsy this whole construct is. Even if he didn\u2019t bet against his own team, or against his own interests, we\u2019ve already seen players who have.<\/p>\n
The only thing standing between a player throwing down a few fun bets and that same player wagering on season-killing propositions is that player\u2019s own sense of morality and fear of consequences. And at a certain point on the addiction spectrum, morality isn\u2019t even a consideration, and the fear of some possible punishment doesn\u2019t even compare to the need to feed the beast.<\/p>\n
Sorsby isn\u2019t the problem here, though. He\u2019s a symptom of a system that continues to show ever-more-destructive potential even as it grows exponentially, funneling ever more money into lobbying efforts, advertising and, yes, media. Make a count \u2014 but please don\u2019t take a drink \u2014 every time you see a gambling reference during a sporting event. See if you can make five minutes without hitting double-digit totals.<\/p>\n
Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, pornography \u2014 all these vices are more easily obtainable now than ever before. And yet they still can\u2019t compare with the ruthless wallet-stripping efficiency of gambling, which resides right there in your phone next to your text and music apps. You can\u2019t download cigarettes or drink a screenshot of a shot, but you can damn sure throw down $100 on the Lakers in the time it takes to start a text to your mother.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
There\u2019s freedom to pursue your own pleasures \u2026 and then there\u2019s sticking your hand into a running garbage disposal in the hope that there\u2019s a quarter pinging around down there.<\/p>\n
All of us \u2014 gamblers, teams, governments, media \u2014 have been willing to live with the occasional Brendan Sorsby, the occasional federal investigation, the occasional lifetime suspension. The rush of betting the over is too much fun, the occasional inward flow of revenue too welcome. Any attempt to restrict, re-channel or regulate gambling will cut into both the rush and the cash.<\/p>\n
The thing is, \u201cJust don\u2019t gamble!\u201d isn\u2019t a strategy. The temptations are vast, the messaging inescapable, the opportunities widespread, the cash handover frictionless. And now the consequences of our inaction, our blind eyes, our \u201cWell, sucks for them\u201d shrugs are coming ever closer. All the hundreds of millions Texas Tech has spent on its football program, and it all might be undone with a few taps on a phone screen. And your school, your team might well be next.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
We can keep hoping that the latest catastrophic gambling story is the last one. Or we can understand that, on our present trajectory, the worst lies ahead. Want to guess which of those two has better odds?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Right now, you could close out this story, flip over to a gambling app and vaporize your entire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[59985,7,59261,3507,14460,2299],"class_list":["post-876287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-brendan-sorsby","tag-football","tag-gambling-addiction","tag-lakers","tag-sports-gambling","tag-texas-tech"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116478240646356858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}