A new bipartisan House bill would require online sportsbooks and prediction markets to conduct facial-recognition age checks before users could place wagers or trade event contracts. The bill, introduced by New Jersey Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer, is called the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act. Eight Democrats and Republicans are co-sponsors of the bill.
How would it work?
Before users could log in or place a bet at US online sportsbooks, they would have to undergo facial analysis. Examining the physical structure of faces and patterns would help estimate the age of bettors and see whether they met legal age requirements. The bill specifically prohibits the retention of the user’s personal biometric information or identity.
What difference would it make?
The proposal comes at a time when concern about the accessibility of gambling with phones is growing. Licensed operators already must collect certain identifying information when users register, such as names and birth dates. Geolocation technology helps them determine whether a wager is being placed in a jurisdiction where the platform is allowed to operate. Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations help to prevent financial crime. However, controls like these don’t necessarily stop underage gamblers. It is easy for them to use the account of an older sibling or parent. This bill aims to stop minors from doing this.
Underage gambling is widespread, and the statistics prove it. Gottheimer’s office cited research showing that 36% of boys aged 11 to 17 had participated in gambling or a gambling-related activity in the past year. This figure reached 40% in boys between 14 and 17. Iowa has sent over 80 reports of underage betting to the Division of Criminal Investigation. Underage gamblers often experience stress at school and in the family context due to problems created by gambling.
A national operating requirement
The bill would apply nationally across all regulated betting markets. Operators would need to invest in facial analysis software. They would have to keep compliance records and have controls governing how checks were conducted. It would leave state betting systems as they are but impose a federal age-control standard.
Support for the bill
Prediction market operators like Kalshi and child safety advocacy groups are backing the bill. As both online gambling and prediction markets expand, the guardrails to protect minors haven’t kept pace. Underage users may not realize the consequences of violating online safety basics. It is too easy for them to bypass basic age restrictions under the current legislation. This bill aims to safeguard children from underage gambling while protecting their privacy. Gottheimer has a record for trying to protect kids’ online safety.
CEO of Kalshi, Tarek Mansour, said that it should be a no-brainer to protect kids and that it’s a top priority for the platform. It already has measures in place to keep minors off the platform. An online safety initiative earlier this year made facial ID the default for users who already have it enabled on their phones. The company also encourages parents to use two-factor authentication. Mansour supports an industry-wide standard for protections.
‘Parents Rise’ is another group that supports the bill. These are parents who have lost children due to the harms of social media. They are glad lawmakers are becoming more aware of the threat of products engineered for compulsive use.
Certain technical and enforcement provisions would be necessary to ensure the new protection worked without just producing a new stream of biometric data or blocking lawful users. The privacy claim will also depend on how the new technology is implemented.
