Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act: What It Means for Sportsbooks

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D, NJ), introduced the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act on July 15, 2026, a bill that would require every licensed online sportsbook and prediction market operating in the United States to verify a user's age with a facial scan before they can log in or place a wager. The bill has real, high-profile industry backing, including from prediction market operator Kalshi, but it currently sets no accuracy standard, names no enforcement agency, and does not say how long any facial images would be kept.

What Is the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act?

The Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act is a federal bill that would mandate facial age estimation technology at the point of login and again before a wager is placed, on both online sportsbooks and prediction market platforms. Rather than checking a government ID, the technology is designed to analyze facial structure and patterns to estimate whether a user meets the minimum age to bet, according to the bill's announcement from Rep. Gottheimer's congressional office.

Who Introduced the Bill and Which Lawmakers Support It?

Gottheimer is the lead sponsor, and the original cosponsor list crosses party lines: Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R, NJ), Nick LaLota (R, NY), Kristen McDonald Rivet (D, MI), Jimmy Panetta (D, CA), Darren Soto (D, FL), Tom Suozzi (D, NY), Ritchie Torres (D, NY) and Bruce Westerman (R, AR) all signed on at introduction. That mix of both parties is notable in a Congress where gambling-adjacent legislation, including efforts to regulate prediction markets, has often stalled along partisan or committee lines.

How Would Facial Recognition Age Verification Actually Work?

The system described by sponsors would scan a user's face through a phone or webcam camera and estimate an age range from facial structure, without matching that face to an identity database. "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," Gottheimer said in the bill's announcement. "Nobody checks. That's the whole system." The distinction matters technically: this is facial age estimation, not facial recognition in the identity-matching sense, a nuance that trade outlet LegalSportsBetting.com flagged as a mismatch between the bill's title and what the technology actually does.

Why Are Gottheimer and Cosponsors Pushing This Now?

The bill lands as legal sports betting and prediction markets have both expanded rapidly across the US, with account creation for most operators still relying on a user self-attesting their age and entering payment details, rather than any biometric or document check at the point of wagering. Rep. Ritchie Torres framed the gap directly: "Online gambling and prediction markets are expanding rapidly, but our guardrails to protect minors haven't kept pace. Right now, the honor system is failing our kids." Rep. Van Drew added that "kids should not be able to get onto these platforms and start placing bets."

What Do the Underage Gambling Numbers Actually Show?

The bill's sponsors cite Common Sense Media research finding that 36 percent of boys aged 11 to 17, and 40 percent of boys aged 14 to 17, gambled in the past year. On enforcement, Gottheimer's office points to state-level data: Iowa regulators logged more than 80 underage betting reports, and Tennessee flagged over 400 underage betting accounts in 2024, up from roughly 100 the year before. Those are the concrete numbers driving the bill, though neither figure has an independent, publicly posted regulator report attached to the announcement itself.

What the bill requires	What it leaves unanswered
Facial age estimation scan at login and before a wager is placed	No accuracy threshold or error-rate standard that platforms must meet
Applies to licensed online sportsbooks and prediction markets, including platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket	No enforcement agency, regulator or financial penalty named in the bill text
Sponsors say scans estimate age without storing identity or biometric data	Does not specify whether scans process on-device or on company servers, or how long any images are retained
Aimed at stopping minors using a parent's, sibling's or friend's account	No stated defense against a photo, recorded video or a synthetic, AI-generated face being held up to the camera

Why Does Kalshi Support a Bill That Would Regulate It?

Kalshi's public backing is one of the more unusual elements of the story, since the bill directly regulates the prediction market operator's own product. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said "protecting kids should be a no brainer, but this can't just be one company's responsibility, it has to be an industry standard," a framing that positions Kalshi as proactively shaping age-verification rules for prediction markets rather than having stricter terms imposed on it later. The move comes as Gaming Intelligence notes lawmakers are increasingly treating prediction markets and sportsbooks as functionally similar products for regulatory purposes, and as AGA and IGA have separately urged Congress to rein in sports event contracts on similar consumer-protection grounds.

What Gaps Have Critics Already Identified in the Bill?

LegalSportsBetting.com's read of the announcement flags four specific gaps: the bill sets no accuracy threshold platforms must hit, it does not address whether scans run on-device or on company servers, it offers no defense against photos, recorded video or synthetic faces being used to spoof the scan, and it names no enforcement agency or penalty for noncompliance. Those are meaningful omissions for a technology mandate, since a facial estimation system with no accuracy floor could technically comply with the letter of the law while still failing to catch a determined teenager.

How Does This Compare to Current Age Verification at US Sportsbooks?

Today, most licensed US online sportsbooks and prediction markets verify age and identity once, at account signup, typically through a combination of self-reported date of birth, Social Security number matching and payment card verification, rather than at every login or wager. Gottheimer's framing of that as an "honor code" system reflects the reality that once an account is created and logged into, on a shared family device or a synced app, nothing currently stops a different person from placing the bet. The bill's facial scan requirement would instead check the person physically present at the moment of the wager, not just the account holder of record.

What Has the Broader Industry and Advocacy Reaction Been?

Beyond Kalshi, the advocacy group ParentsRISE has endorsed the measure. Trade coverage of the bill from outlets including SBC Americas and Gaming Intelligence has framed it as part of a broader wave of youth-protection legislation aimed at online gambling and prediction markets, arriving alongside state-level scrutiny such as Michigan's extended restrictions on Kalshi's sports contracts and continuing debate over how state regulators and Congress should treat prediction markets that resemble sports betting.

Is This Gottheimer's First Push on Kids' Online Safety?

No. Gottheimer has previously championed the Kids Online Safety Act, Sammy's Law and the Parents Decide Act, and he sits on the Children's Safety Caucus. The Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act extends that pattern of child-safety legislation into gambling and prediction markets specifically, an area that has drawn comparatively less federal attention than social media or general online content until this bill.

What Happens Next in Congress?

As of publication, the bill has only been introduced in the House and has not been assigned to a committee vote in the reporting reviewed for this article. Its bipartisan cosponsor list improves its odds of a hearing compared with single-party bills, but neither the announcement nor the trade coverage of it lays out a timeline for markup or a floor vote, and Congress has a mixed record of moving standalone gambling-adjacent bills to passage.

What Does This Mean for Sportsbooks and Prediction Markets Going Forward?

Even before any vote, the bill signals where federal appetite is heading: age verification tied to the person actively wagering, not just the account on file. Operators that already invest in stronger real-time verification, rather than one-time signup checks, would have less to change if a version of this bill becomes law. For everyone else, the open questions LegalSportsBetting.com raised, accuracy standards, data retention and anti-spoofing protection, are the details that will decide whether facial age estimation becomes a genuine safeguard or a compliance checkbox.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act?

It is a bipartisan federal bill introduced on July 15, 2026 by Rep. Josh Gottheimer that would require online sportsbooks and prediction markets to use facial age estimation technology at login and before a wager is placed.

Who sponsors the facial recognition sports betting bill?

Rep. Josh Gottheimer is the lead sponsor. Cosponsors include Reps. Jeff Van Drew, Nick LaLota, Kristen McDonald Rivet, Jimmy Panetta, Darren Soto, Tom Suozzi, Ritchie Torres and Bruce Westerman.

Does the bill apply to prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket?

Yes. The bill's scope covers licensed online sportsbooks and prediction market platforms, and Kalshi has publicly backed the measure.

Will the bill store users' biometric data?

Sponsors say the technology estimates age from facial structure without storing identity or biometric data, but the announcement does not specify where scans process or how long images are kept.

Has the bill passed Congress?

No. It has only been introduced in the House as of publication, with no confirmed committee vote or floor schedule yet.

What problem is the bill trying to solve?

Sponsors cite Common Sense Media research showing about 40 percent of boys aged 14 to 17 gambled in the past year, plus Iowa and Tennessee enforcement data showing minors accessing betting accounts, often through a parent's, sibling's or friend's login.

Updated July 2026.