Two Texas football players included in self-reported sports gambling violation

Five people at Texas have been self-reported for sports gambling during the back half of last year. That includes a pair of players on the football team for the Longhorns to go with the three non-athletes within the athletic department.

This news comes from reporting by David Eckert of the Austin American-Statesman on Thursday per documents they’d obtained. Inside Texas’ Joe Cook has since reported on the matter as well.

“The Texas athletics department self-reported five NCAA violations related to impermissible sports wagering between July 11 and Nov. 4 of 2024, according to documents obtained by the American-Statesman,” wrote Eckert. “The documents, acquired via a public records request, redacted the names of the offending parties. Texas’ self-reporting entries listed two football players, a non-student-athlete associated with the women’s tennis program, a student assistant and an uncategorized athletic department employee as the violators.”

With sports gambling being illegal in the state of Texas, these wagers were reportedly made on PrizePicks, a daily fantasy site that is legal in the state. In total, Eckert noted that the five combined to bet a total of $14,885.76 on PrizePicks.

However, daily fantasy bets remain illegal under the rules of the NCAA. Players and staff members are not allowed to gamble on sports in which the association has a championship or gamble on the professional equivalent of those. With that, ProhiBet technology, required by the Southeastern Conference, discovered these violations and those involved.

As for the football program specifically, the Longhorns have reportedly since received further education on the issue. One of the players is no longer part of the program anyways while the other player was reportedly made ineligible, later reinstated, and then paid the total of any of his winnings back to charity.

Sports gambling has become a bigger and bigger issue in the NCAA. More programs have been involved with double the violations over the last two years according to reports. There has been more instruction on how to best handle the matter and avoid these issues because of that.

Still, it remains a problem in the culture for those in the sports who are either playing, coaching, or involved. That now includes down on The 40 Acres with this reporting by the Austin American-Statesman.