Effective from July 13, 2026, Google announced that it has banned the advertisement of prediction market platforms in Michigan and New York.The extension of the ban was...
New US bill to require facial recognition for sportsbooks
U.S. House Representatives have proposed a new bipartisan bill on July 15, 2026, aiming to introduce mandatory facial recognition and age check technologies for sportsbooks and prediction markets.
Called the Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act, Congressman Josh Gottheimer introduced the bill with eight additional lawmakers from both parties joining as original co-sponsors, while prediction platform Kalshi and advocacy group ParentsRISE committed to supporting the initiative. In case of its approval, platforms would be ordered to use facial patterns to estimate a user’s age before logging in and placing a bet.
Congressman Gottheimer commented:
“We’re asking our kids to self-police their way past a system built entirely on the honor code. 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. Nobody checks. That’s it. That’s the whole system. We wouldn’t accept that at a casino in Las Vegas. We shouldn’t accept it on the phone in our kid’s back pocket.”
The bill comes as a result of increasing concerns over underage gambling, with Gottheimer citing data that 36% of boys aged from 11 to 17 have gambled in 2025.
Tarek Mansour, CEO of Kalshi, added:
“Protecting kids should be a no-brainer and is a top priority at Kalshi. Beyond what’s required of us, we already self-regulate and have a suite of measures in place to keep minors off our platform. But this can’t just be one company’s responsibility; it has to be an industry standard. I am grateful to Congressman Gottheimer and Congressman Van Drew for driving it forward.”
Under the bill, operators all over the United States would be required to add compatible facial-analysis software and integrate new controls to handle the checks.
As reported by the New York Times on July 14, 2026, Kalshi and OpenAI have entered into a new deal agreement, with ChatGPT now displaying the prediction market’s odds for the...
