Removing Federal Barriers to Offering of Mobile Wagers on Indian Lands Act On Thursday, July 1, 2021, Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA) with original co-sponsor Rep. John Katko (R-NY) introduced, H.R. 4308, titled the “Removing Federal Barriers to Offering Mobile Wagers on Indian Lands Act”. The bill has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples of the United States. Section 3 of the bill seeks to clarify for purposes of online wagering pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, “a wager shall be deemed to be made at the physical location of the server or other computer equipment used to accept the wager.” The bill defines the term “interactive wagering platform” to mean “a person or entity to the extent such person or entity offers lawful wagering over the internet, including through an internet website or mobile application”. The term “wager” is defined as “the staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of an event, including the outcome of any portion or aspect thereof, upon an agreement or understanding that the person or another person shall receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.” Finally, the bill provides that wagers will only be considered to exclusively occur on Indian lands if the person placing the wager and server or other computer equipment are located in the same state, and only if the Tribe and the State have entered into a compact pursuant to IGRA. In his introductory remarks, Rep. Correa acknowledged the benefits of Indian gaming to Tribal governments and their communities, job creation, and investments in regional rural economies. He noted that H.R. 4308 seeks to “clarify the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and make clear what the congressional drafters would have done in 1988 had the internet been around at that time. This bill would clarify that for purposes of tribal government gaming, the location of the wager occurs at the location of the server, unless a state and Indian tribe otherwise agree.” Correa added, “This bill does not authorize any type of internet gaming; that is within the authority of each state to do. All this bill does is clarifies the location of where the wager takes place for purposes of tribal government gaming. It clarifies that internet gaming will be conducted by tribal governments under the same framework that they currently conduct gaming in their physical casinos.” In December of 2019, Rep. Anthony Bridisi (D-NY) introduced similar legislation, H.R. 5502, in the 116 th Congress that focused solely on mobile sports wagers. Due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bill stalled in the House and did not receive a hearing. Sports and mobile wagering have rapidly expanded in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Murphy v. NCAA on May 14, 2018. That decision struck down the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Prohibition Act (PASPA) as unconstitutional. In the three years since Murphy, twenty-one (21) states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting within their jurisdictions, with 16 now offering some form of online sports wagering. Nine other states have passed laws to legalize sports betting that are pending implementation. At the same time, dozens of Native Nations have also added sports wagering offerings to Indian gaming operations. Some of these operations accept online wagers outside of Indian lands pursuant to state law pursuant to IGRA- approved compacts. As noted above, H.R. 4308 was introduced on July 1, 2021. The National Indian Gaming Association and our Member Tribes are reviewing the proposal and have not yet taken a position on the bill. Our Association has standing resolutions on federal proposals to amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, sports betting, and internet gaming. We will work within our organization in coordination with our Member Tribes, as we develop a formal position on this important proposal.
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