Biometrics could be coming to New York to curb underage sports gambling

• Gov. Hochul is pulling out all the stops to make gambling safer in New York
• The governor proposes tougher, biometric checks to stem underage gambling
• Expanded treatment options for addiction and disorder, as well as limited use of AI for promotions, are also on her agenda

Underage sports gambling is a well-established practice in New York, with high schoolers often engaging in the activity, as a recent New Yorker report indicated.

To address what remains a serious societal issue, Gov. Kathy Hochul may now seek to tighten control over the Empire State’s sports betting industry, which is already one of the most strictly regulated in the United States.

Gov. Hochul wants underage individuals to be protected from the risks of sports gambling

The governor is toying with the idea of adding biometric tools in order to prevent youths from engaging with a product that could have serious consequences later in life. Addiction in young men and women has been traced to a lifelong struggle with gambling, thus the need to act.

The legal gambling age in New York is 21, but reports swirl that many youths are actually able to engage with apps in other ways.

Now, Gov. Hochul has directed the New York State Gaming Commission to leverage technology, such as facial recognition and thumbprint scanners, to ensure that U-21s are not able to play at gambling establishments and websites.

In the same stride, the state’s top politician also wants to rein in sportsbooks’ ability to leverage technologies such as AI to send personalized messaging, for fear that they may force players to play beyond their "intended limit."

She is equally determined to strengthen treatment options, other than prevention, and ensure that social media platforms are not inundated by AI content that is continually driving sports fans to place bets.

Getting more support for people who need help because of their gambling habits

To help flesh out a more robust support ecosystem, Gov. Hochul is calling for more services to be made available to people who seek help for their gambling. Leveraging biometrics to control who can wager is not an untoward idea, but it could require technological implementations that would add to the costs already borne by traditional operators.

Potential pushback stems from fear that, faced with more invasive checks, many regular customers may withdraw from the market altogether. By one estimate, 74% of all online gambling in the United States is illegal, with the American Gaming Association estimating the lost revenue to illegal gambling a whole to run in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

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