Federal Proposal Would Require Facial Recognition for Online Sportsbooks, Prediction Markets

^{A federal bill introduced by New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer would require facial recognition for online sportsbooks and prediction markets to protect children. (Photo: Stefani Reynolds / MediaPunch via Alamy)}

Representative Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) introduced a bill on Wednesday that would require online sportsbooks and prediction markets in the United Statesto use facial recognition technology in order for users to place bets or trade on their sites.

The bipartisan bill, known as the “Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act,” would use facial recognition as an age verification tool in an effort to prevent underage users from accessing these sites.

Kalshi Throws Support Behind Age Verification

In a press release announcing the proposed legislation, Rep. Gottheimer cited research that found that 36% of boys ages 11 to 17 have gambled in the past year.

“We’re asking our kids to self-police their way past a system built entirely on the honor code,” Rep. Gottheimer said in a statement. “A kid can log into a parent’s, an older sibling’s, or a friend’s account and place a bet with no verification at all. Nobody checks. That’s it. That’s the whole system. We wouldn’t accept that at a casino in Las Vegas. We shouldn’t accept it on the phone in our kid’s back pocket.”

The legislation would require facial recognition either when logging in or before a user places a wager or makes a trade. The technology would be required to read facial structures and patterns to estimate user age, without storing personal biometric information afterwards.

The bill has what may seem like an unlikely ally. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour was alongside Rep. Gottheimer for the announcement of the legislation, saying that he supports keeping underage users off his platform.

“Protecting kids should be a no brainer and is a top priority at Kalshi,” Mansour said. “Beyond what’s required of us, we already self-regulate and have a suite of measures in place to keep minors off our platform. But this can’t just be one company’s responsibility – it has to be an industry standard.”

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The bill also received support from Parents RISE, an organization for survivor parents who have lost children to social media and tech-related issues.

“We’re grateful to see action taken to address the harms of predatory betting apps and prediction markets to children,” Parents RISE said in a statement. “Meta has already struck a partnership integrating Kalshi’s real-money betting markets into Threads. We are glad these members see the threat of this next wave of products engineered for compulsive use.”

Rep. Gottheimer’s bill has eight co-sponsors in the House, including five Democrats and three Republicans.

“Prediction markets are becoming more popular, and we need to be realistic about the risks that can come with that for our children,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said in a statement. “Kids should not be able to get onto these platforms and start placing bets.”

The proposed legislation comes at a time when federal legislators have expressed growing skepticism over the growth of prediction markets in the United States. In May, the Senate Commerce and Technology Committee grilled officials from both prediction markets and traditional gaming organizations, questioning how the two fundamentally differ and why each shouldn’t face stronger regulation at the federal and state levels.