- Rep. Josh Gottheimer introduced the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act on July 15 with eight bipartisan cosponsors.
- The measure would force sportsbooks and prediction markets to scan a user’s face to estimate age before a wager.
- Despite its name, the bill relies on facial age estimation, which reads facial patterns without confirming a user’s identity.
- As written, the bill sets no accuracy standard, no anti-spoofing safeguard, and no enforcement mechanism or penalty.
WASHINGTON – A bipartisan bill introduced in the House on July 15 would require online sportsbooks and prediction markets to scan a user’s face and estimate their age before accepting a bet or a trade.
What The Bill Would Require
The measure, introduced by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., directs online sportsbooks and prediction-market platforms to scan a user’s face and estimate their age either at login or before the user places a wager, according to Gottheimer’s office. The technology reads facial structure and patterns to gauge age, and the sponsor says it does not store a user’s identity or biometric information.
Gottheimer introduced the bill with eight cosponsors: Republicans Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, Nick LaLota of New York and Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, and Democrats Kristen McDonald Rivet of Michigan, Jimmy Panetta of California, Darren Soto of Florida, Tom Suozzi of New York and Ritchie Torres of New York. Kalshi and the advocacy group ParentsRISE back the measure, and Kalshi Chief Executive Tarek Mansour appeared at the announcement.
Who It Reaches, And Why Now
The mandate covers licensed online sportsbooks and the prediction-market platforms that now run event contracts on sports, including Kalshi and Polymarket. For a legal bettor, it means a face scan stands between opening the app and placing a bet. The requirement would apply to the same operators listed across the legal sports betting directory, alongside the prediction market apps that have expanded into sports wagering over the past year.
Gottheimer’s office pegged the bill to underage access, citing research that 36% of boys ages 11 to 17 gambled in the past year, a figure that rises to 40% for boys 14 to 17. More than a quarter of those minors reported stress, conflict at home or school problems.
The announcement also pointed to more than 80 underage betting reports in Iowa and over 400 flagged underage accounts in Tennessee in 2024. “Right now, kids can too easily log into a parent’s or sibling’s account and bet real money,” Gottheimer said.
A Name That Misstates The Tool
The bill is titled the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act, but the technology it describes is facial age estimation, not facial recognition. Recognition confirms who a person is; age estimation only guesses how old a face looks and, as written, does not verify identity.
That distinction carries the privacy question. A system can decline to store an identity while still capturing and processing a facial image, and the announcement did not address whether scans run on-device or on company servers, how long images are kept, or whether they are shared.
The proposal also leaves operational holes. It sets no accuracy threshold platforms must hit, no rule for users whose estimated age lands near the legal line, no defense against photos, recorded video or synthetic faces, and no enforcement agency or penalty. Its arrival follows a run of state and federal prediction-market legislation this year, including a New Jersey bill seeking prediction market regulation, though this is the first to target age verification.
