CNN 6/9/2026

## A judge ruled Brendan Sorsby can play for Texas Tech after gambling on his
own teams. It’s the latest college sports stunner

Analysis by Dana O’Neil, CNN

Updated: 4:03 PM EDT, Mon June 8, 2026

Source: CNN

This is how sports betting and athletes have intersected for much of the past
six months.

In October, the feds announced a sweeping investigation into NBA point-shaving
rings tied to the mafia. As recently as two weeks ago, federal prosecutors
alleged in an unsealed indictment that Terry Rozier, one of the players caught
in that probe, accepted $100,000 to leave a game with a foot injury so that a
group of gamblers could cash in on a hefty profit.

Since January, more than two dozen college basketball players have been
permanently banned for game fixing. The most recent additions came last week,
with four players from Alabama State deemed permanently ineligible. Many of
the college players were pulled in with the promise of making quick cash by
career criminals, including one who was once indicted for murder.

And then came Monday. A Texas judge granted Brendan Sorsby a temporary
injunction allowing the quarterback to play for Texas Tech. Sorsby had been
declared ineligible after violating NCAA rules and placing more than $90,000
worth of bets on sports, including more than 40 wagers on the Indiana Hoosiers
while he was with the team.

There is a temptation to expand the view of this ruling, to look at the
slippery slope that has been legally greased and pontificate about how this
will lead to the further damnation of college sports.

Except there’s no need to enlarge the picture. The snapshot is enough by
itself.

In the saddest twist of irony, the decision to allow Sorsby – who has admitted
he is seeking help for a gambling addiction – only underscores how badly so
many people are addicted to football. The flesh-eating virus that already is
devouring college athletics is now taking a very serious bite out of common
sense.

NBA athletes, grown men with real money and all sorts of protection, have been
lured into point-shaving schemes via clandestine poker games where the stakes
grew too high. Career criminals have preyed on college hoops players,
convincing them to miss a few buckets in exchange for some extra cash.

Sorsby sent $65,000 to his friends to cover bets made on his behalf. Despite
clear rules against and regular education on the matter, he bet on sports
while at Indiana and Cincinnati and continued to do so after transferring to
Texas Tech in January. While at Indiana, he bet on his own team and the NCAA
says he also bet on opposing players to “overachieve’’ in games against
Hoosier basketball.

Though Sorsby never bet on a game in which he played or attempted to
manipulate the outcome, he started gambling back in high school and sought out
bets on things as obscure as Turkish men’s league basketball. He said by the
end of his freshman year of college, he was “truly” addicted.

“Whatever the reason for his behavior, he broke the rules and should receive
an exception that no other athlete, in history, has ever received,” the NCAA
said in a statement.

Yet Judge Ken Curry decided that Sorsby should return to a world where he is
surrounded by the very thing that fed his addiction and where he will have
very valuable insider information, not to mention the opportunity to impact a
game.

The judge, conveniently based in Texas Tech’s hometown of Lubbock, argued that
Sorsby will suffer “probable, imminent and irreparable injury” if he’s not
able to play for the Red Raiders this year, conveniently overlooking the
irreparable damage an unchecked gambling addiction might cause.

Sorsby’s attorneys argued that the NCAA was punishing the quarterback for his
mental health condition and suggested that the ruling prevented him from
making an informed decision about entering the 2026 NFL supplemental draft.

Every major professional league in the US has serious rules about gambling,
put in place to protect the integrity of the game. In Major League Baseball,
you can’t even bet on youth baseball games, let alone professional ones. In
the NHL and NBA, athletes are not allowed to wager on games or individuals
affiliated with their league.

The NFL might be the most strident of all. Not only are players prohibited
from wagering on any NFL games (whether their own or otherwise), they can’t
place bets while in any NFL-affiliated facilities and can’t so much as enter a
sportsbook during the season.

Had Sorsby actually made it to the NFL, his betting in all likelihood would
have earned himself a pink slip out.

But rather than provide a point of education or allow the severe consequences
of Sorsby’s actions to have an impact, the judge has offered, fittingly, an
end-around. Because this is about football, the sport that has destroyed
rivalries, razed conferences and served up its departmental peers like
sacrificial lambs. It stomps its cleats like a petulant toddler, threatening
to take its ball and go home if it doesn’t get its way, or thumbs its nose
like an elitist at rules that don’t suit its needs.

And if all that fails, it adheres to one simple motto: If you can’t eat ‘em,
sue ‘em.

Brendan Sorsby threw for more than 7,000 yards while Texas Tech finally made
the College Football Playoff last season, with the Red Raiders spending a lot
of money on him.

And in college football, that means he’s worth a gamble.

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