Case 2:25-cv-00978-APG-BNW Document 105 Filed 10/14/25 Page 15 of 27
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event or an organized activity or celebration for the public or a particular group. And the ordinary meaning of event in terms of sports would be the sporting event itself, not who wins it. Indeed, Webster’s notes that equating an event with an outcome or result is an archaic use of the word “event,” not the ordinary meaning. An ordinary American interpreting the word “event” would conclude that the Kentucky Derby is an event. But who wins the Kentucky Derby is an outcome of that event, not a separate event in and of itself. 9 Crypto’s live presentation industry event contracts are not swaps because, as Crypto self- certified to the CFTC, these contracts turn on the outcome of the live event, not on the “occurrence, nonoccurrence, or the extent of the occurrence” of a live event. See ECF Nos. 1 at 3-4 (“At issue here are ‘Sports Event Contracts,’ with return profiles dependent on the outcome 9 At the hearing, Crypto suggested that the outcome of a sporting event could count as a contingency, even if it is not an event. ECF No. 104 at 50-52. I do not consider this argument because it was raised for the first time in reply argument at the hearing. I do not definitively decide in this order what “contingency” in the swap definition means because the parties have not addressed it. But I at least preliminarily conclude that a contingency does not mean every potential happening, and every event with a potential outcome is not a contingency. Looking at the statutory definition of a swap, event and contingency are grouped together and so should be read in context together. See Util. Air Regul. Grp. v. E.P.A. , 573 U.S. 302, 320 (2014) (stating that it is a “fundamental canon of statutory construction that the words of a statute must be read in their context and with a view to their place in the overall statutory scheme” (quotation omitted)); Schreiber v. Burlington N., Inc. , 472 U.S. 1, 8 (1985) (“[I]t is a familiar principle of statutory construction that words grouped in a list should be given related meaning.” (quotation omitted)). And many dictionaries define contingency to include a contingent event. See Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed. 2003) (defining contingency to include “a contingent event or condition”); The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed. 2000) (defining contingency to include “[a]n event that may occur but that is not likely or intended; a possibility”); Webster’s New College Dictionary (defining contingency to include “some thing or event which depends on or is incidental to another”); Random House Dictionary of the English Language (Second ed. 1987) (defining contingency to include “a contingent event”). Thus, I preliminarily conclude that a contingency in the swap definition means a contingent event. For example, the Stanley Cup Finals automatically has four games (events) and may have more games (contingent events) if one team does not win the first four games. So a contingency would be whether a game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals will occur, because that is contingent on who wins the first four games. But a contingency is not who wins that game because that is an outcome, not a contingency.
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