Bill requires face scans to stop kids from betting online.
H.R. 9706 — Facial Recognition to Protect Children Act · Filed by Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) · 9 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 15, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
Online gambling and betting platforms must use face scans to check users are at least 18. Platforms that trade contracts about future events must follow new rules. The bill bans contracts about violence or crimes. It creates a new Retail Advocate office in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Who it affects
Kids and teens are affected because the bill stops them from gambling online. Adults who use gambling platforms must provide face scan data. Regular people who trade contracts about future events get new protections.
One thing to notice
Platforms must collect face scan data from all users. But the rules about keeping or using this data are weak and unclear.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
9 cosponsors: 5 Democrats, 4 Republicans.
- Jul 15, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 15, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce and House Committee on Agriculture · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- face scan — Technology that looks at a person's face to verify who they are.
- contracts about future events — Deals where people bet money on whether something will happen in the future.
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission — The federal agency that makes rules for futures markets and trades.
- Retail Advocate — A new office created to help regular people who trade contracts.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 19, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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