Pablo Torre says sports gambling: ‘Potentially an epidemic’

Credit: Pablo Torre Finds Out

On Monday, Texas Tech announced that quarterback Brendan Sorsby, one of the sport’s top returning players, is checking into a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction. Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the decision comes on the heels of the discovery that Sorsby made online bets on a variety of sports via a gambling app during his freshman year with the Indiana Hoosiers.

“We love Brendan and support his decision to seek professional help,” Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire said in a statement. “Taking this step requires courage, and our primary focus is on him as a person. Our program is behind Brendan as he prioritizes his health.”

On Tuesday, investigative sports journalist Pablo Torre appeared on the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz and discussed Sorsby entering treatment and the growing ramifications of the legalization of sports betting.

“It is some kind of courage to be able to say publicly, I have a problem. I will commit to seeking help for it. This is something that I cannot control. And on that level, he is somebody that a lot of people in America, men particularly, statistically can relate to and should relate to.”

Torre said that although he didn’t feel it was his place to “gauge the sincerity” of Sorsby seeking help, “counseling has become a PR instrument,” making him “cynical by default,” while acknowledging the very serious and real psychological effects of sports gambling.

“I’m struggling to articulate this because an addiction, a gambling addiction, I do think it’s worthy of consideration as a disease,” he continued, “as potentially an epidemic, and it should be treated rigorously. And if this is the first person to be the poster child of it as a player is concerned, I just have to imagine statistically he’s not alone. And I hope other people realize this and they seek help for it too, because it is a medical condition, as the human brain is scientifically concerned.”

Torre is almost certainly correct in his assumption that other athletes have succumbed to gambling addictions, and while the hope is that Sorsby’s case leads to others seeking the help they need, precedent and policy could mean a permanent ban and the end of his collegiate career.