Texas Tech ruling ignites debate on sports betting and gambling addiction

By — William Brangham William Brangham By — Ryan Connelly Holmes Ryan Connelly Holmes By — Genesis Magpayo Genesis Magpayo Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/texas-tech-ruling-ignites-debate-on-sports-betting-and-gambling-addiction Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio A judge’s ruling in Texas is sending shockwaves through college sports. Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who wagered $90,000 on sports games, was banned from the sport. But he and the school appealed, arguing he has a gambling addiction and anxiety issues. The judge agreed, and Sorsby will most likely play this year. William Brangham discussed more with Danny Funt. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Geoff Bennett: A judge's ruling in Texas is sending shock waves through college sports. The case involves Texas Tech star quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who wagered $90,000 worth of bets on sports games, including betting on teams he was playing for. Our William Brangham has more -- William. William Brangham: That's right, Geoff. Sorsby's betting, all of which is prohibited by the NCAA, included 40 bets on Indiana while he was a freshman there. He was banned from the sport and would not have been able to play his last year at Texas Tech. But he and the school appealed, arguing he has a gambling addiction and anxiety issues. And, yesterday, a judge agreed, writing that Sorsby -- quote -- "has demonstrated he will suffer a probable, imminent and irreparable injury if he does not play football for Texas Tech this fall." The NCAA has appealed, but Sorsby will most likely play this year. To unpack all of this, we are joined by journalist Danny Funt. He's written about sports betting for "The New Yorker," and his recent book is called "Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling." Danny, great to see you again. The ironclad rule has always been, when you're a pro athlete or a college athlete, you do not bet on games, certainly not on games regarding teams that you are playing for. So what do you make of this quite unprecedented ruling? Danny Funt: You're right. This has been sports' cardinal sin, from the Black Sox to Pete Rose to a handful of athletes who've been indicted for betting against their teams or even just on games they're playing in over the past few years. So this comes as a shock. I didn't -- I wasn't surprised to hear people say they're disgusted, they think this is ruining sports, people will never trust what they're watching again. The other side of that coin, though, is that we know we're seeing a potential surge in gambling problems, especially among young men. Brendan Sorsby is kind of the target demo of the sort of American who's being bombarded with appeals to gamble. So it's no surprise that someone like him might develop a gambling problem and be betti