Longhorns axe two
The fallout for breaching NCAA rules about participating in daily fantasy sports (DFS) competitions that first emerged in March has seen two members of the Texas Longhorns lose their jobs.
The Austin-American Statesman revealed on Christmas Eve that the University of Texas’s (UT) football program self-reported six sports betting violations to the NCAA from January to October 2025.
immediately terminated”
As a result, UT documents stated, two Longhorns employees were “immediately terminated” from their roles in 2025. Three remain employed by UT, while one “no longer works with the school.”
While the Christmas-time tidings came with firings, news that members of the Longhorns were in hot water first emerged in March when UT’s Athletics Department announced it had self-reported five people for breaching NCAA rules over DFS competitions.
Confusion abounds
While two of the March culprits were players on the Longhorns football team, fans on social media at the time speculated about who the remaining four offenders were.
According to the American Statesman, however, all six new violations involve DFS wagers. While Texans can legally wager on DFS platforms, traditional sports betting remains illegal in the state, a dichotomy that causes confusion when NCAA rules are added to the mix.
Case studies of the new violations confirmed most of them “conveyed confusion regarding NCAA rules on sports wagering.” One offender thought wagering on pro sports was permitted, another thought betting via DFS sites was allowed because the platforms are legal in Texas.
In all, the six people only placed DFS bets totaling $1,096.08. Two of the bettors placed wagers on events involving Texas’s sports teams, while another was pressured by friends on a group chat to place a DFS wager on the Super Bowl.
Saved by the date
According to the Statesman, however, the most prolific bettor out of the newly named six has escaped the axe because the offenses were committed prior to UT stepping up its educational drive to alert its employees of NCAA betting rules.
85 wagers, including ten on Texas sports
The unnamed individual, still employed by the Longhorns, made 85 wagers, including ten on Texas sports, between November 2023 and January 2024.
The other violations included two betting offenses by male members of UT’s women’s basketball and softball programs, another by one of the athletic department’s IT coordinators, while the three remaining breaches “were not labeled by sport.”
