A Debate on Whether to Require Biometric Data on Sports Gambling

New York has the most successful regulated online sports betting market in the country. This industry now generates over $1 billion in tax revenue for New York State every year. The vast majority of that money goes to fund public education in New York, with smaller portions also helping fund youth sports programming and responsible gaming initiatives across the state.

That money matters. It supports classrooms, teachers, after-school programs, and resources that many communities, especially underserved ones, depend on. At a time when the state’s public school systems are under constant financial pressure, this revenue stream has become an essential pillar of support. But now, new draft regulations being proposed by the New York State Gaming Commission are threatening that tax revenue, and all the good that it goes towards.

The new draft regulations include a number of unnecessary and potentially counterproductive requirements, the most significant of which is a proposal to require biometric face scans every time a user places a bet. There are obvious privacy concerns with forcing New Yorkers to hand over their extremely sensitive biometric data to private corporations who would then be responsible for safeguarding that data, but there are significant economic concerns as well.

The reality is, if we make these apps harder to use, or add new requirements that make legal gamblers feel less comfortable or less inclined to use them, those gamblers will not stop betting. They will simply find other, less regulated, ways to do so. Many would turn to offshore gambling sites and unregulated prediction platforms like Polymarket, which operates outside New York’s regulatory framework. These platforms do not have strong age verification requirements or consumer protections like the regulated platforms do, can easily be manipulated by insider trading, and contribute nothing to New York State’s tax base.

Even a modest shift of users away from the regulated market to the unregulated one could have significant financial consequences. A decline in betting activity on licensed apps would directly reduce tax revenue, meaning either education would be defunded or more money would have to be taken out of the general fund to supplement this loss, leaving less available for other vital social services. Policymakers would then be stuck with a very difficult, and politically unpopular, decision: raise taxes or cut funding for schools or other social services. That is not a decision that we want, or have, to make.

There is also the broader economic concern about how this would affect the entire economic ecosystem that now exists around regulated betting inNew York State, which includes hundreds of jobs at regulated companies as well as many more partnerships and brand deals with content creators, media platforms, and sports teams. Undermining the competitiveness of this industry will put thousands of jobs at risk and help unregulated, out of state operators gain market share without contributing anything to our state’s economy. That is too big of a risk to take.

To be clear, regulation is necessary in this industry. Ensuring there are strong age verification protocols in place to prevent minors from betting and strong consumer protections to help those who experience problem gaming are essential. But effective regulation should strengthen the legal market, not push users away from it.

In New York, licensed operators are already required to verify user identities, enforce age restrictions, and invest millions in problem gambling prevention, all without resorting to invasive biometric surveillance. The system generates substantial revenue while maintaining safeguards that protect consumers. Why would we want to jeopardize that just to continue to do something that is already being done?

With the rise of Kalshi and Polymarket, New York should be focused on how to preserve and strengthen their extremely successful legal sports betting industry, not complicating it to the point that people abandon it. These draft regulations are misguided and must not be approved.

Frank Garcia is Chairman Of The Board of National Association of Latinos State Chambers.