Greedy governments are partnering with the predatory gambling industry to ruin sports, bright futures, and young lives, and it’s all to pad state coffers already lined with record revenues. Now, a Texan and star student athlete is paying the price for the addiction his governments fueled and enabled in the first place. Will Texas lawmakers follow suit and allow online sports betting legalization to ruin more lives for a few dollars more?
From Bright Future to Addiction Fueled Disaster
Last year, Brendan Sorsby was the standout quarterback for Cincinnati, throwing for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns. The North Texas native attracted transfer portal interest from powerhouses like national champion Indiana, LSU, and others. Sorsby chose to sign a reported $5 million NIL deal to return home to Texas and play for Texas Tech Red Raiders, a program on the rise. But now, instead of chasing championships and an NFL future, Sorsby is another casualty of the predatory gambling industry and the greedy governments that enabled it.
Will this talented Texan ever play a single snap for Texas Tech?
Sorsby has taken an indefinite leave from the team and entered residential treatment for severe online sports betting addiction.1 He faces investigations by the NCAA and multiple state regulators for placing thousands of wagers across numerous accounts and platforms over several years, including while competing at previous universities. Authorities are examining whether any bets involved his own teams, which could result in permanent ineligibility.
This is not an isolated personal failure. It is the predictable outcome of governments and gambling operators actively fueling addiction for profit.
Reports show the University of Cincinnati knew about Sorsby’s gambling problems before his transfer,2 yet he still secured a massive NIL payday at Texas Tech. This highlights the deeper rot: the predatory gambling industry’s engineered dependency, aggressively promoted through targeted ads, push notifications, and addictive micro-bets aimed at young people (even athletes strapped with NIL cash).
Greedy Governments
Even worse, greedy governments in over 30 states have eagerly partnered with this industry. They legalized widespread sports betting under the false promise of “new revenue,” all while their budgets were already bursting from soaring property appraisals, inflation-driven taxes, and repeated rate hikes. Rather than protecting young people, these politicians expanded easy access to betting apps and chose to line state coffers at the direct expense of lives like Brendan Sorsby’s.
This is not an oversight failure. It is a deliberate exploitation of citizens by government greed. It is the rampant prioritization of tax dollars over people.
Proponents claim betting improves the fan experience. The Sorsby case exposes the lie. Government-enabled gambling creates conflicts of interest, pressures young athletes, and destroys the integrity of the games. What is marketed as harmless entertainment becomes a destructive addiction that has been enabled and normalized by the very governments that should be shielding our citizens. And in this case, it might have destroyed the future of one of Texas’ most prominent up and coming student athletes.
The Bottom Line
Texas lawmakers now face the same temptation. Changing our Constitution to allow sports betting here would repeat the mistakes of other states, further empowering the predatory gambling industry and ruining the lives of Texans for government revenue. Texas must reject this path.
Greedy governments have partnered with the predatory gambling industry to chase easy money despite existing record breaking revenues. Rather than deal with historic overspending and reigning in rampant waste, fraud, and abuse, many states have chosen to implement “taxation by exploitation.” The results are eroded sports integrity, ruined futures, and young men like Texas Tech’s Brendan Sorsby paying a devastating personal price.
That’s why Texans for Fiscal Responsibility launched The Texas Anti-Predatory Gambling Alliance (TAPGA) last year. TAPGA is a project of TFR dedicated to preserving Texas prohibition on predatory gambling in every form and protecting taxpayers and families from the long list of harms that come with the expansion of gambling in the Lone Star State.
You can help advance TFR’s mission and projects like TAPGA by making a generous donation on our website.
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility relies on the support of private donors across the Lone Star State in order to promote fiscal responsibility and pro-taxpayer government in Texas. Please consider supporting our efforts! Thank you!
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