Peter Champelli

Welcome to Tech News Briefing.

It's Friday, March 6th.

I'm Peter Ciampelli for The Wall Street Journal.

Prediction markets let people place bets on just about anything.

For people in states where gambling is illegal, they give a legal workaround to place bets on sports.

But the betting also goes beyond athletics.

A new investigation from The Wall Street Journal is taking a look at the latest place they're surging in popularity.

College campuses.

And then this week, Apple announced new iPhone and laptop models, which are straying from the company's modern formal style and high price tags.

Our personal tech columnist is here to tell us all about them.

But first, prediction markets are in the midst of an all-out sprint to turn just about anything into an online bet.

And as they race for market share, companies like CalShe and PolyMarket have aimed marketing at an eager group of users that isn't known for financial discretion.

Students.

Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Catherine Long joins us to explain the rise of prediction markets on college campuses.

So Catherine, how are CalShe and PolyMarket getting college students familiar with their services?

You write about one of the services incentive programs for getting fraternity members to sign up.

Can you talk about how that works and what kind of actual financial incentives they're giving students?

Are there concerns around gambling addiction and other negative outcomes from gambling with these companies marketing to college students?

And how is it affecting college athletics specifically?

I saw that the NCAA released a statement sort of condemning these apps.