Brendan Sorsby bet on Romanian soccer, Turkish basketball, Nathan's Hot Dog Contest
It's been three weeks since Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby stepped away from the team to treat his gambling addiction.
On Monday, May 18, Sorsby and his legal team filed suit in Lubbock County against the NCAA for reinstatement. In that filing, we learned more about the levels to Sorsby's gambling.
In addition to admitting to betting on his own team while he was at Indiana in 2022, Sorsby contended he largely bet on events other than college football. He wagered on Major League Baseball, UFC, tennis, Romanian soccer, Turkish basketball and even the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Sorsby’s bets were routinely in the $5 to $50 range, he said.
In the legal filing, Sorsby admitted he previously gambled on his own team, but only did so with pro-Hoosiers bets and did not specify whether any wager on Indiana or college football ever exceeded that $50 amount.
"I rationalized placing those bets as a way to feel more connected to the team, to root for my friends, and to feel like I had a real 'stake' in the games that I otherwise was not involved in," Sorsby said in the affidavit.
Sorsby did say he lost most of his bets, due to 2022 Indiana not being a "strong competitor," and all of the bets were in favor of Hoosiers sports. He also clarified he did not place bets when he was part of the dressed team, only doing so as a scout team member without knowledge of the team's gameplan, per the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.
“… I began placing small bets on the Indiana football team, typically in amounts between $5 and $50,” he wrote. “All of these bets were in support of Indiana. In other words, I placed bets on Indiana to win a game or score more than a certain number of points or for the quarterback to throw for more than a certain number of touchdowns or yards.”
The NCAA prohibits student-athletes and athletics department staff members from making bets and/or sharing information with bettors on college sports. It also prohibits both parties from betting on professional sports — a rule the NCAA briefly moved to change in October before reversing course. He violated both of those guidelines, with the former deeming him permanently ineligible to return to college athletics.
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