To: IGA Member Tribes From: Ernie Stevens, Jr., Chairman Jason Giles, Executive Director Re: ACTION NEEDED! Sign-On To 3 rd Circuit Appeal of CFTC Allowing Sports Betting In The Futures Market: Must Sign By 5:00pm ET MONDAY Date: June 13, 2025 The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), the federal agency most commonly known for its regulation of commodities like pork bellies, cattle, soy beans and corn, is allowing bets on sports and events (political, economic, even the weather!), under the auspices of labeling such bets as “futures contracts.” There is ongoing litigation to halt these bets from States such Arizona, Nevada, New Jersey, and Maryland. In New Jersey, the District Court granted a preliminary injunction in favor of financial services company, KalshiEX, LLC (“Kalshi,”) which had asked the District Court to temporarily halt the enforcement of New Jersey’s State gaming laws against them. 1 New Jersey has appealed to the 3 rd Circuit. Please have your Tribe sign-on to the Attached Amicus Brief that IGA, NCAI, and several Tribes will be filing. DEADLINE TO SIGN ON TO THE AMICUS IS MONDAY, JUNE 16 th , at 5:00 p.m EST. (See attached) Please forward your Legal Counsel’s Name, and State Bar Admission to Danielle Her Many Horses, dhermanyhorses@indiangaming.org Unless acted upon, the number of sports-based event contracts traded on the Derivatives/Futures market is only expected to grow, ushering in growing reason for concern for tribal gaming operators and regulators across the United States. It will be crucial moving forward for Tribal governments to closely follow this matter as it evolves in the CFTC and in the courts. By allowing these event contracts that are wholly unrelated to commodities, the CFTC risks making public policy decisions that ignore the detrimental impacts from sports betting that every State and Tribal government has a sovereign duty to evaluate. Additionally, every sports event contract that is traded on tribal land or in violation of a Tribal-State compact deprives tribes and states of revenue that our communities rely upon.
1 See Kalshiex LLC v. Mary Jo Flaherty, et al. , Case No. 25-cv-02152, 2025 WL 1218313 (D.N.J. Apr. 28, 2025).
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