Brendan Sorsby scandal: The $4 million face of sports gambling addiction

Americans, like most people, are drawn to stories with a “human face,” an individual with a story and an experience that highlights a collective problem vexing the wider society.

The sports pages of newspapers across the country and sports broadcasts on radio and television have furnished such an individual face: Brendan Sorsby.

For readers who are not sports fans, Brendan Sorsby is a talented young quarterback, most recently of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who has decided to forgo his last year of collegiate eligibility and declare himself for the supplemental NFL draft, which takes place next week.

The problem Brendan Sorsby’s story highlights is the metastasizing cancer of an alarmingly growing gambling addiction, particularly among younger men in America. Many observers, including myself, have attempted to sound the alarm as we have watched the legalization of online sports gambling and the alarming negative impact it has had, especially among younger men who have been exposed to its temptations.

Nationwide studies all show this alarming growth in gambling addiction driven by online sports gambling. This information has been reinforced in my own experience through conversations with youth pastors in various parts of the country who have expressed their deep and growing concern as increasing numbers of young men to whom they are ministering are succumbing to addiction to sports betting.

Brendan Sorsby does indeed provide a compelling human face to this disturbing social phenomenon. Brendan is a gifted athlete who transferred from Indiana to the University of Cincinnati before arriving in Lubbock, Texas, to become the starting quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, such transfers being driven by the legal pursuit of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money. It is reported that Brendan Sorsby was being paid more than $4 million to quarterback the Red Raiders to national prominence this fall.

Then it was revealed that Brendan Sorsby had developed a disturbing gambling addiction. It was discovered that during his college career at Indiana and Cincinnati, Brendan had wagered at least $90,000 on more than 9,000 bets. He also transferred money to others to bet on his behalf after transferring to Texas Tech (mobile sports betting is illegal in Texas).

When Texas Tech became aware of Brendan’s gambling history, the school sent him to a gambling rehabilitation program but retained him as its starting quarterback. Then the NCAA ruled Brendan ineligible for having broken one of the cardinal rules — no betting — because of the overwhelming risk it poses to the integrity of the game.

Then Texas Tech, to its shame, went to court, and a local state judge overruled the NCAA and declared Brendan eligible, with the school’s president voicing strong support. Even various states’ attorneys general became involved, with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sending a letter to the Big 12 warning it against punishing Texas Tech. The attorneys general of Oklahoma, Kansas and Utah all wrote letters defending the Big 12’s right to punish Texas Tech.

Then Brendan, perhaps reading the handwriting on the wall that this was now a “no-win” situation, announced that he was withdrawing from Texas Tech and making himself eligible for the NFL’s supplemental draft.

What is the NFL supplemental draft? It is a process developed by the NFL for players who lose their eligibility after the NFL draft has occurred. The supplemental draft only takes place when players like Brendan Sorsby are available, and they may or may not be drafted.

Given his ability and potential as a gifted player who is 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, Brendan Sorsby will undoubtedly be drafted as a potential eventual starting quarterback and will be rewarded with a multimillion-dollar pay package, despite the lingering concern that he might relapse into gambling addiction.

What does the Brendan Sorsby story reveal about the United States? It tells us that legalized online gambling is corrupting us. Unless we severely restrict or ban it, it will destroy the integrity of American sports and, more importantly, lead to bankruptcy and heartache for millions of Americans who succumb to this terrible addiction and for their loved ones.