We’ve been reporting here at AddictionNews about an ongoing trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court against five tech giants accused of intentionally designing products harmful to children.

Most recently, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand and said Instagram did not target teens, while internal documents show the company not only tracked them, it set goals to increase the number of teen users and the amount of time spent on Instagram.

Technology companies aren’t the only ones watching the Los Angeles trial with apprehension. Gambling syndicates such as DraftKings and FanDuel, and prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, are rightly concerned that their services are addictive and that their marketing could be seen as aggressive.

The case against gambling syndicates and prediction markets is made, not by an attorney pursuing the companies for damages, but by an industry insider publication trying to map out the risks to the gaming industry. Sportico: The Business of Sports defines itself as:

[T]he default resource for professionals seeking the latest and highest quality news and information in the $500 billion worldwide sports industry.

Sportico claims to have “an editorial team of the most accomplished journalists and visionaries in the field.” Let’s take a look at some of the things Sportico envisioned in an article about the social media addiction trial against Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok:

• “The major sports leagues have applications that feature videos, prizes and other content that try to engage with fans — including young fans — and keep them on the app.”

• “Sports betting and sports prediction apps might be more vulnerable to arguments they cause users to become addicted and suffer various harms.”

• “[T]he science is quite clear that these are products that are known to addict many of their users in ways that destroy lives and families.”

Sportico cites a rather shocking study conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on the gambling habits of college students in 2023, well after the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling striking down state laws against gambling on sports. The NCAA found that 67% of students living on campus engaged in sports betting, compared with 58% of all 18- to 22-year-olds.

Six percent of college students surveyed have lost $500 or more in a single day to sports gambling. Sixteen percent are considered “risky gamblers.” And yet, 70% of the risky gamblers “believe consistent sports gambling will increase their monetary earnings.”

Wow, 16% of college students are forking over huge sums of money to gambling syndicates, and a majority of them still believe they’ll beat the house and come out ahead. This is truly irrational behavior and is, in fact, a sign of a self-injurious compulsion. And this information is coming from the NCAA.

The report further cites issues that are certain to become arguments in court cases against the gambling syndicates. Sixty-three percent of on-campus students recall seeing advertisements for sports gambling. More than half of those who recalled the ads said they’re “more likely to bet after seeing the ads.”

In February, DraftKings lost an effort to dismiss a trial in Massachusetts over aggressive promotional tactics. Features such as free bets, loot boxes, and bonuses for heavy gamblers are designed to hook new users and quickly ramp up their losses. 

In the Massachusetts trial, DraftKings offered $1,000 if customers opened an account with a $5,000 deposit. However, the fine print said that to collect the $1,000, they must then gamble $25,000 in 90 days. Also, the $1,000 bonus cannot be withdrawn as cash, only used as credit for more gambling. The court ruled the case may proceed to trial.

Sportico interviewed Mark Gottlieb, executive director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, counsel for the plaintiff in the case against DraftKings. Gottlieb further laid out the case against gambling syndicates and prediction markets for Sportico:

Much like the social media companies on trial in Los Angeles, the leading sports gambling platforms all use — and compete on the basis of — advanced algorithms created by tracking every click and demographic detail of each of their users to maximize time on device and engagement with their products.

We will continue following both the social media addiction trials and the trials against gambling syndicates and prediction markets here at AddictionNews.

Written by Steve O’Keefe. First published March 4, 2026.

Sources:

“Meta’s Addiction Trial Could Spell Trouble for Sports Betting,” Sportico, February 24, 2026.

“Plaintiffs Prevail Over DraftKings in Massachusetts Class Action,” Public Health Advocacy Institute, February 17, 2026.

“NCAA releases sports wagering survey data,” NCAA Media Center, May 24, 2023.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, used under Creative Commons license.