Texas Tech transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby is checking into a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction.

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Noah Shannon got suspended for an entire season for placing a $20 bet on the women's final 4. If the NCAA wants to be consistent this needs to be as severe, if not more since he was betting on games in which he was rostered.
 

Precisely why gambling should be illegal wholesale. It's more addictive than opiates and it's accessible to literally everyone. Add athletes to the mix you end up with a ton of shitty outcomes and can't verify whether that loss was because the qb was off or he made a few prop bets on his own performance. This along with the prediction markets and how easy it is to manipulate them with insider info, it's all fucked. And it's pretty much irreversible at this point.
 


gopherbadgerman said:
Giving youngsters hundreds of thousands of dollars to do whatever with is bound to have some drawbacks at some point.

Hope he gets the help he needs.
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True but it isn’t just youngsters with gambling addictions right now.
 

mngg11 said:
Precisely why gambling should be illegal wholesale. It's more addictive than opiates and it's accessible to literally everyone. Add athletes to the mix you end up with a ton of shitty outcomes and can't verify whether that loss was because the qb was off or he made a few prop bets on his own performance. This along with the prediction markets and how easy it is to manipulate them with insider info, it's all fucked. And it's pretty much irreversible at this point.
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It’s not gambling if it’s a predictions market (sarcasm)
 

mngg11 said:
Precisely why gambling should be illegal wholesale. It's more addictive than opiates and it's accessible to literally everyone. Add athletes to the mix you end up with a ton of shitty outcomes and can't verify whether that loss was because the qb was off or he made a few prop bets on his own performance. This along with the prediction markets and how easy it is to manipulate them with insider info, it's all fucked. And it's pretty much irreversible at this point.
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Both The Atlantic and Harper's featured a story about the rise of gambling on the cover in the few months. Both stories are good and showed how it isn't all the difficult to go down the rabbit hole and chase your losses. Lots of high school and college guys diving in and the irony is the leagues--at least the professional leagues--have bought in 100% after fighting it for so many years. It used to be just spreads, but now the in-game betting just amplifies things.

As you say, the proverbial cat is out of the proverbial bag and it's hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube (I was on the All-American cliche team).
 

50PoundHead said:
Both The Atlantic and Harper's featured a story about the rise of gambling on the cover in the few months. Both stories are good and showed how it isn't all the difficult to go down the rabbit hole and chase your losses. Lots of high school and college guys diving in and the irony is the leagues--at least the professional leagues--have bought in 100% after fighting it for so many years. It used to be just spreads, but now the in-game betting just amplifies things.

As you say, the proverbial cat is out of the proverbial bag and it's hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube (I was on the All-American cliche team).
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It’s reversible.
They want to get rid of it quickly is to regulate and enforce it.

That would take political will.
So I guess it’s irreversible
 



Some guy said:
True but it isn’t just youngsters with gambling addictions right now.
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The market has expanded into the younger demographic. I've known some adults with gambling addictions, but there are age limits at casinos. Now all you need to bet is a phone and a revenue source, which slides things down the age slope.
 

50PoundHead said:
The market has expanded into the younger demographic. I've known some adults with gambling addictions, but there are age limits at casinos. Now all you need to bet is a phone and a revenue source, which slides things down the age slope.
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Yeah but I know plenty of people without NIL who are addicted to gambling
 

Some guy said:
It’s reversible.
They want to get rid of it quickly is to regulate and enforce it.

That would take political will.
So I guess it’s irreversible
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Anything is reversible, but as you say, the political will won't be there largely because the consumer base doesn't want it to happen. I doubt anyone would lose a legislative seat either nationally or in a state on this issue, but (and I say this as someone who used to answer legislative snail mail in the 1970s and 1980s) a half-dozen constituent complaints feels like a tidal wave of anger to a number of elected officials.
 

50PoundHead said:
Anything is reversible, but as you say, the political will won't be there largely because the consumer base doesn't want it to happen. I doubt anyone would lose a legislative seat either nationally or in a state on this issue, but (and I say this as someone who used to answer legislative snail mail in the 1970s and 1980s) a half-dozen constituent complaints feels like a tidal wave of anger to a number of elected officials.
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All it’s going to take is a couple Edina parents losing their house because their kids ran up gambling debts on their accounts without their knowledge
 



Some guy said:
Yeah but I know plenty of people without NIL who are addicted to gambling
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I wasn't trying to tie to NIL and I'm guessing the percentage of athletes with a decent NIL money gambling heavily is less than the non-athlete group. Sorsby is going to be a poster boy for the need for tighter policing of athletes' behavior and it may move parents to monitoring their kids' phone activity. But the gambling bug is here to stay.
 

1st thing they need to do is get rid of the apps. It makes it far too easy/accessible and once you're past the gateway, really tough to get yourself out of the spiral

if you make it books in person (and require ID), activation energy is higher and that at least creates some barrier to entry.

I watched 2 young guys each with 4 cell phones out at the Wolves game 4 with 100k+ in multiple accounts live betting all across multiple websites and dropping 1-2k on every bet while live betting baskets and live spreads and over/unders (it looked like they took a bath taking Denver after Ant got hurt and then were trying to chase the bets when it was clear MN was going to win).

Betting is now rampant across college campuses and have heard plentiful stories of people betting their tuition money and really fucking themselves over. These guys getting reported are just the tip of the iceberg and deregulating that industry is not going to go well, especially when your major sports and networks are already deep in bed with the gambling agencies so they're going to fight tooth and nail not to go back
 

Ah, shit! This thread is preventing more of the (now almost 3-month 👎) MWC posts.
 

In all seriousness, I very much enjoy responsible sports gambling, on occasion - and wish I could do so in Minnesota. But my Spidey-sense is making me queasy with the proliferation. Not necessarily of recognized, conventional, sports wagering - but, and specifically, Kalshi (perhaps others) being deemed a “prediction market”, sent me back over the border on the matter to righteous reconsideration.
 


Some guy said:
True but it isn’t just youngsters with gambling addictions right now.
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Oh I agree its lots of people with the apps and accessibility. I was referencing young atheltes as thats what the topic was.
 

Some guy said:
It’s reversible.
They want to get rid of it quickly is to regulate and enforce it.

That would take political will.
So I guess it’s irreversible
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The way the world works now I think of it like the NCAA in all of these court cases where they have no chance. College gambler, "Are you telling me I can't legally spend my own money on something". Court, "Of course not sir, you are right".

We've lost common sense in this world. Everyone can basically do whatever they want as long as it is legal. Maybe there is some good in that but I think it is too much.
 
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mngg11 said:
Precisely why gambling should be illegal wholesale. It's more addictive than opiates and it's accessible to literally everyone. Add athletes to the mix you end up with a ton of shitty outcomes and can't verify whether that loss was because the qb was off or he made a few prop bets on his own performance. This along with the prediction markets and how easy it is to manipulate them with insider info, it's all fucked. And it's pretty much irreversible at this point.
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You're right but it's going to get waaaayyy worse. Now that we have platforms that are literally attempting to monetize every single aspect of life. Kalshi, etc.

It's horrible, horrible shit.
 


Just wait, some things will be very sad. There should be a similar awareness program for instant money like the professional sports have, particularly the NFL. This way, nobody will feel sorry for those warned.
 

I see the NCAA was already investigating him. Does anyone know if he bet on games he could influence?
 






None of this will happen due to the lack of political will mentioned above, but it really wouldn’t be complex to take small steps on this issue, monitor via research for a couple years, then evaluate whether further steps are needed:
  1. Raise the age limit.
  2. Serious age-gating via verifiable ID methods (perhaps even in person). Do the same for social media and pornography while you’re at it.
  3. Velocity limits, wager sizes tied to verifiable income/assets, ban exotic props and huge parlays.
I’m an adult who enjoys playing small ($5, $10, $20) bets on sporting events very occasionally (usually when there’s a promo), but I’d happily give it up if research reveals that steps such as those above just aren’t effective enough.
 

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