Rep. Josh Gottheimer has introduced the bipartisan Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act, legislation that would require online sportsbooks and prediction markets to use facial recognition technology to verify users’ ages before they can place wagers. The proposal, which is supported by Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, aims to strengthen safeguards against underage gambling on regulated platforms.
Rep. Gottheimer said the legislation is intended to address the growing accessibility of online sports betting among minors. According to the American Gaming Association, Americans wagered approximately $160 billion on sports last year, generating about $16 billion in industry revenue.
Research from Common Sense Media shows that 36% of boys ages 11 to 17 gambled during the past year, with that figure rising to 40% among boys ages 14 to 17. The report also found that more than one-quarter of those who gambled experienced negative consequences, including stress, family conflict, or problems at school.
Underage betting has become a growing problem. In Iowa, regulators have referred more than 80 reports of suspected underage betting to the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation. In Tennessee, licensed sportsbooks identified more than 400 underage accounts in 2024, up from roughly 100 the previous year.
Beyond sports betting, Gottheimer argued that gambling-like mechanics in video games, such as loot boxes and player packs, may expose younger users to similar reward systems before they are old enough to legally wager.
One of the biggest challenges facing regulated sportsbooks is preventing minors from accessing accounts that belong to parents or other adults. While operators already verify a customer’s identity during registration, those safeguards can be bypassed if an underage user logs into an existing account using someone else’s credentials.
Facial recognition technology is designed to address that gap by confirming that the person using the account appears to be of legal gambling age each time they log in or before placing a wager. Rather than relying solely on an ID or payment method entered during registration, the technology adds another layer of verification tied to the individual using the platform.
Several states have pursued other strategies to reduce underage gambling. Massachusetts has expanded education efforts to teach students about the risks of sports betting, while Pennsylvania lawmakers have proposed requiring licensed operators to use geolocation technology to block access to betting apps on school property. Both initiatives are aimed at limiting youth exposure to gambling, but they primarily address where or how minors encounter betting rather than verifying who is actually using an account.
If implemented effectively, facial recognition could complement these efforts by making it significantly more difficult for minors to access regulated sportsbooks using a parent’s ID or account credentials.
The Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and must now move through the legislative process before it can become law. The bill will first be referred to the appropriate House committee, where lawmakers can hold hearings and decide whether to advance it for a full House vote.
If approved by the House, the legislation would also need to pass the Senate in identical form before being sent to the president for signature. At this stage, there is no timeline for committee action or floor votes.
The bill has already received support from Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour and advocacy group ParentsRISE, which is an encouraging sign for its overall outlook.
