Case 4:25-cv-14092-SDK-KGA ECF No. 29-1, PageID.507 Filed 01/26/26 Page 18 of 32
Coinbase’s sports-betting activities fall squarely within IGRA’s scope when they occur on Indian lands. See 25 C.F.R. § 502.4(c) (classifying sports betting as class III gaming). However, as described above, IGRA prohibits Coinbase from offering class III gaming activities—including sports betting—on the Michigan Tribes’ Indian lands unless, among other things, its gaming activities are conducted in conformance with a tribal-state compact. 25 U.S.C. § 2710(d)(1). C. Congress Did Not Repeal IGRA or Prohibit Tribes from Conducting Sports Wagering When It Amended the CEA in 2010. Coinbase does not assert that its conduct complies with IGRA. In fact, Coinbase has made no attempt to ensure that its sports-betting activities on Indian lands comply with IGRA. Instead, Coinbase argues that Congress’s definition of a single term (“swaps”) within a statute whose entire purpose is to address the risk, discovery, and dissemination of commodity prices, 7 U.S.C. § 5(a)–(b), effectively repealed core provisions of IGRA. Under this theory, Congress silently stripped away tribes’ and states’ longstanding authority over sports betting 11 (and Warning , The Atlantic (Jan. 6, 2026), https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ 2026/01/venezuela-maduro-polymarket-prediction-markets/685526/. 11 Coinbase also suggests that its sports-event contracts are not sports betting because there is no betting against the “house.” Compl. at 42–43, Coinbase Fin. Mkts., Inc. v. Nessel, et al. , No. 4:25-cv-14092 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 18, 2025), ECF No. 1. Not so. A “house” is not a necessary element of gaming. For example, pari-mutuel wagering—a type of betting system where all bets or wagers are
9
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs