Case 4:25-cv-14092-SDK-KGA ECF No. 29-1, PageID.512 Filed 01/26/26 Page 23 of 32
Inc. , 192 F.3d 601, 606 (6th Cir. 1999). Congress’s intent to repeal must be “clear and manifest.” Epic Sys. , 584 U.S. at 510. “Congress does not alter the fundamental details of a regulatory scheme in vague terms or ancillary provisions—it does not, one might say, hide elephants in mouseholes.” Id. at 515; see also Morton v. Mancari , 417 U.S. 535, 550 (1974). Here, IGRA and the CEA can easily be harmonized by reading the CEA to exclude sports betting, consistent with longstanding CFTC regulations. 1. Coinbase’s sports-betting contracts are not “swaps.” The CEA defines “swap” as “any agreement, contract, or transaction . . . that is dependent on the occurrence, nonoccurrence, or the extent of the occurrence of an event or contingency associated with a potential financial, economic, or commercial consequence.” 7 U.S.C. § 1a(47)(A)(ii). Coinbase’s sports-betting contracts simply do not fall under this definition and Congress therefore could not have intended to repeal IGRA. First, Coinbase’s sports-event contracts are not dependent on the occurrence , nonoccurrence, or extent of the occurrence of a sports event—i.e., whether the sports event occurs—but rather on the outcome of the sports event (or parts thereof)—i.e., which team wins or who scores a touchdown. The Nevada District Court recently held that sports bets are not swaps for precisely this reason. Crypto.com , 2025 WL 2916151, at *1, 6–9; Hendrick , 2025 WL 3286282, at *3;
14
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs