Sports betting issues are as previous as sports themselves, and faculty athletics has been no stranger.
The current information that Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby will enter a rehab facility for a gambling addiction comes on the heels of an enormous betting scandal throughout faculty basketball that featured quite a few gamers allegedly making an attempt to affect outcomes.
NCAA president Charlie Baker has tried to adapt the group’s sports betting penalties to the present instances. Those modifications have remained fluid. Here’s the place the rules presently stand.
What are the NCAA’s present rules?
For most of school sports historical past, sports betting of any sort was banned and closely punished. In 2022, Virginia Tech linebacker Alan Tisdale was initially suspended for 9 video games for betting around $400 on the NBA Finals. It was diminished to six video games upon enchantment.
But in 2023, the Division I Council accredited new reinstatement tips meant to cut back the penalties for sure sorts of playing. Under these 2023 tips, any participant who wagers on their very own video games or on different sports at their very own college will probably face everlasting lack of eligibility in all sports. The similar applies if a participant engages in actions to affect the final result of their very own video games or knowingly gives info to folks in sports betting.
If a participant wagers on their very own sport at one other college, the participant might lose 50 p.c of 1 season of eligibility. They should additionally obtain training on sports wagering rules and prevention.
For all different betting violations, resembling professional sports, it is dependent upon the cumulative sum of money wagered:
- $200 or much less: Only additional training is required
- $201 to $500: Loss of 10 p.c of a season, plus additional training
- $501 to $800: Loss of 30 p.c of a season, plus additional training
- More than $800: NCAA reinstatement employees will take into account whether or not additional lack of eligibility is acceptable, together with probably everlasting ineligibility.
Attempted rule change in 2025
In October 2025, the Division I Administration Committee approved a new rule to permit gamers and employees to guess on professional sports. The Division II and Division III administration committees additionally adopted.
The rule was set to go into impact on Nov. 1, however it was met with backlash and squashed. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey despatched a letter to Baker asking for a reversal. The implementation was delayed, adopted by a vote of greater than two-thirds of the 365 Division I faculties, which rescinded the rule.
“Because sports betting rules are common legislation, the ban on all forms of betting — for sports in which the NCAA sponsors a championship — will remain in place for all three NCAA divisions,” the NCAA said in a statement.
Recent points in faculty sports
Like different sports, extra faculty sports betting scandals have popped up not too long ago with the rising legalization of sports betting in quite a few states.
In 2023, at the least 30 Iowa and Iowa State athletes had been implicated in sports betting of varied levels as a part of a authorized probe, with 16 going through fees and many shedding NCAA eligibility. Misdemeanor fees landed minor plea deals for underage gambling, however felony fees had been later dismissed as it was decided that the state’s search with geolocating instruments was unconstitutional. A lawsuit filed by these athletes towards the investigators was dismissed final fall over certified immunity.
In January, 20 energetic and former faculty basketball gamers were charged in a federal indictment round a sports playing scandal. Some of the gamers had already been banned by the NCAA for not cooperating in its playing investigation, however some had not been beforehand identified.
Now, Sorsby has turn out to be the most high-profile faculty athlete caught up in a sports playing scenario.
“Due to confidentiality rules put in place by NCAA member schools, the NCAA will not comment on current, pending or potential investigations,” an NCAA spokesperson mentioned in a press release. “However, the NCAA takes sports betting very seriously and is committed to the protection of student-athlete well-being and the integrity of competition. The Association works with integrity monitoring services, state regulators and other stakeholders to conduct appropriate due diligence whenever reports are received.”