New York Governor Kathy Hochul plans to pursue tougher safeguards in the nation’s largest online sports betting market, including biometric age verification and restrictions on artificial intelligence-driven promotions, to curb underage gambling and reduce addiction risks.
As part of her upcoming State of the State agenda, Hochul will direct the New York State Gaming Commission to explore tools such as facial recognition and thumbprint scanners to prevent people under 21 from opening sportsbook accounts or using accounts belonging to others.
“From day one, one of my highest priorities has been keeping kids and our most vulnerable safe in a rapidly changing digital world, and that includes risks posed by online gambling,” Hochul said in a statement to ESPN.
“By engaging tools like biometric age verification, establishing stronger prevention and treatment, and applying the same vigilance to online betting that we have brought to social media and AI, we will build on our progress to protect New Yorkers from predatory and addictive technologies,” she said.
The gaming commission has reported an uptick in underage access to sports betting, often through parents, relatives, or friends. Individuals found providing betting access to minors can be banned from sportsbook platforms, according to the commission.
Hochul also wants to limit how sports betting platforms use AI to send personalised promotions and wager offers that could keep gamblers betting beyond their intended limits.
Beyond prevention, the governor is proposing to expand treatment for gambling disorders by ensuring insurance coverage, creating a Gambling Health Institute, and commissioning a 10-year statewide study to track gambling-related health trends and evaluate prevention outcomes.
The initiatives, which Hochul will outline in an address to the state legislature, would apply to licensed online sports betting operators. New York has meanwhile issued cease-and-desist orders to prediction market companies offering trading on sports outcomes.
Industry group Sports Betting Alliance said it was ready to work with regulators on advanced age and identity verification technologies and to help tackle illegal operators.
“We also expect to further partner with Governor Hochul and additional leaders to expose and eliminate offshore and illegal actors that pay no heed to age requirements and actively target vulnerable populations throughout the state and nationally,” said Joe Maloney, SBA president.
New York launched legal online sports betting in January 2022 and quickly became the top U.S. market by amount wagered. About $26.3 billion was bet with New York sportsbooks in 2025, according to the state gaming commission.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/01/13/117098-new-york-gov-kathy-hochul-eyes-biometric-checks-to-curb-underage-sports-betting
