July 14, 2025
The Honorable John Boozman, Chairman US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 328A Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Amy Klobuchar, Ranking Member US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 328A Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 RE: Request For Senate Agriculture Committee To Stay The Nomination of Brian Quintenz For The Commodities Futures And Trading Commission
Dear Chairman Boozman and Ranking Member Klobuchar,
On behalf of the undersigned Tribal organization members of the Coalition for Tribal Sovereignty (CTS), consisting of more than 35 tribal organizations serving Tribal Nations and Tribal citizens and communities, we ask that the Committee stay Mr. Quintenz’s nomination until he has committed to initiating a CFTC review of sports-based event contracts if he is confirmed as CFTC Chair. The CTS is concerned about the existential danger sports-based event contracts represent to both tribal and commercial gaming. Specifically, tribal gaming is a $49 billion dollar industry that provides significant revenues to Tribal Governments to support critical essential government services such as health care, law enforcement, housing, and education. Accordingly, many tribal nations, state attorneys general, regulatory agencies, and business entities are now raising concerns that these so-called “sports-based event contracts” violate numerous federal statutes, including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”) the Wire Act, and state gaming laws. Although it is the role of the CFTC to investigate such matters, the CFTC has yet to respond and has left the matter to the courts. Throughout his Nomination Hearing, Mr. Quintenz could not provide concrete answers to questions on his approach to sports-based events contracts, which are of great concern to tribal gaming operations and are the subject of pending litigation in several District Courts and the Third Circuit. In addition to his vague answers on CFTC’s inaction surrounding these events contracts, many tribal gaming operators are also concerned about Mr. Quintenz’s conflicts of interest in overseeing these matters. Mr. Quintenz is a former board member of KalshiEX, LLC (“Kalshi”), one of the financial services companies engaged in sports-based event contracts.
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