Bill Introduced Requiring Face ID for Prediction Markets and Sportsbooks
Federal lawmakers, with support from Kalshi and a parental advocacy group, have introduced the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act.
The proposed bill would require online sportsbooks and prediction market platforms to use facial recognition technology to thwart underage gambling. These platforms would have to verify a user's age via facial recognition at login before bets or trades can be placed.
New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer introduced the legislation, which has several co-sponsors and is backed by prediction market giant Kalshi and ParentsRISE, a parental advocacy group.
"We’re asking our kids to self-police their way past a system built entirely on the honor code," said Gottheimer 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.”
Underage gambling: By the numbers
Gottheimer pinpointed two reasons why the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act is important. First, he brought up a recent report from Common Sense Media, where the research showed that 36% of males aged 11-17 took part in gambling within the last year.
Second, he pointed to the state reports dealing with the issue of underage gambling. In Tennessee alone, online sportsbooks red-flagged over 400 accounts of underage users in 2024, which quadrupled the number from the previous year.
The 18+ age issue at prediction markets
The new federal legislation comes at a time when the age requirements on prediction market platforms are under scrutiny. The minimum age to make trades is 18, while nearly all U.S. sportsbooks have a minimum age of 21.
Many parties have come forward requesting the minimum age for event contracts to be raised to 21, such as major U.S. sports leagues, state gaming regulators, and gambling addiction experts.
The parties in favor of increasing the age requirement have argued that sports betting services are available to younger users, but not at state-regulated online sportsbooks.
A hot topic is getting hotter
Prediction markets have been a trending topic in the last several months and have only gotten hotter, with younger people and college students increasingly trading on them.
The prediction market platforms seem to be fueling the fire by targeting younger users, a practice that has been widely criticized. A younger audience is often targeted through social media marketing campaigns, partnerships with popular influencers, and collaborations with various organizations on university campuses.
Many reports have surfaced this year warning about the dangers of making gambling products, such as prediction market platforms, available to younger people.
Next steps for Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act
Legislation such as the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act is being considered at the federal level.
Some bills aim to establish a nationwide gambling framework, even though gambling is typically regulated at the state level. However, that has recently changed due to issues with prediction markets, which are regulated at the federal level.
While there are multiple lawsuits in states against prediction markets, there are also multiple lawsuits by the prediction markets against the states and by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates them.
Experts have said that it's only a matter of time before the prediction market issue reaches the Supreme Court.
