US bill would require facial recognition age checks for sportsbooks and prediction markets

Rep. Josh Gottheimer has introduced bipartisan legislation that would force online sportsbooks and prediction markets to use facial recognition to verify a user’s age before betting or trading. For PSPs and operators, the point is straightforward: this would move age-gating from a one-time KYC step to a platform-level check tied to login or each wager.

1. The Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act would require platforms to analyse facial structure and patterns to estimate age either at login or before a wager. In other words, the bill is aimed at stopping account sharing from becoming a cheap workaround for age restrictions.
2. The bill is being backed on a bipartisan basis by Representatives Jeff Van Drew, Nick LaLota, Kristen McDonald Rivet, Jimmy Panetta, Darren Soto, Tom Suozzi, Ritchie Torres and Bruce Westerman. It also has the support of ParentsRISE, a parents’ advocacy group.
3. On paper, this would impose a uniform federal standard on platforms that currently rely primarily on initial know-your-customer checks. The current age thresholds are not the same across products: most regulated sportsbooks set a minimum age of 21, while prediction markets generally allow trading from age 18.
4. Gottheimer’s office cited Common Sense Media research showing that 36% of boys ages 11 to 17 gambled in the past year. It also said Tennessee sportsbooks flagged more than 400 underage accounts in 2024, up from roughly 100 the previous year, and Iowa authorities have received more than 80 reports of underage betting.
5. The proposal says the technology would not store a user’s identity or personal biometric data. ParentsRISE said the measure would help protect against “the harms of predatory betting apps and prediction markets to children.”