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A total of 15 states currently allow some form of sports gambling, and five other states plus the District of Columbia have passed laws to legalize it. There appears to be a race to the bottom as states compete with each other in facilitating the massive waste of time and money by their residents which such gambling entails.
The sports gambling crisis has moved from the bleachers to the courtroom and two conservative attorneys general are now on opposite sides of a high-stakes fight that exposes how deeply the problem has infected college athletics.
After Texas Tech recruited quarterback Brendan Sorsby for five million dollars, it emerged that the twenty-two-year-old had placed thousands of bets totaling over ninety thousand dollars on college sports — including forty on his own Indiana Hoosiers team as a freshman. The NCAA banned him permanently; a Texas state court reinstated him; the NCAA appealed. Other Big 12 schools threatened to boycott Texas Tech on their schedules.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stepped in with a classic “Don’t Mess with Texas” response, warning that his office would act against any school or conference that ostracized Texas Tech. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach fired back, arguing the conference has every right to discipline a school that fields an admitted gambler. The Big 12 then filed a federal lawsuit against Paxton and Texas Tech. Sorsby ultimately entered the supplemental NFL draft to resolve his eligibility — but nobody expects the crisis to go with him.
This is the direct result of the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA, which struck down the federal ban on sports gambling outside Nevada. Today roughly one hundred sixty-seven billion dollars is wagered on sports each year, most of it by young men. The 2026 World Cup is expected to become the most gambled-on sporting event in history.
Here is what should stop every parent cold. An estimated thirty to fifty percent of sixteen-year-old boys are placing bets through their phones right now. The college athletes of tomorrow are being hooked today.
NFL receiver Kayshon Boutte (BOOT-ee) placed nearly nine thousand bets while playing college football and admitted betting until he was completely broke. By his own account, he woke up betting, stayed up late betting, and reached for his phone in the middle of the night to bet more. The NFL let him play without suspension anyway.
Sports gambling is legal in roughly forty states. The integrity of the games our children grow up loving is paying the price.
Stay informed and engaged on this expansion of legalized sports gambling at PhyllisSchlafly.com. Join us next month in Dallas at Eagle Council 55 as we discuss major issues like this. Again, that’s PhyllisSchlafly.com and join us again for the Phyllis Schlafly Report.
