Case 2:25-cv-00978-APG-BNW Document 75 Filed 09/15/25 Page 18 of 20
Crypto.com tramples upon established federal Indian policy by usurping the rights of tribes
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to regulate gaming on Indian land and benefit from such gaming. IGRA mandates that tribes “have
the exclusive right to regulate gaming on Indian lands,” and that sports betting is “lawful on Indian
lands only if … conducted in conformance with a Tribal-State compact….” 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701(5),
2710(d)(1)(C); see 25 C.F.R. § 502.4(c). Crypto.com violates this exclusive right. Crypto.com’s
intrusion is particularly dangerous because it does not comply with any gaming regulations that
protect consumers, ensure fairness, or mitigate negative gaming impacts. In fact, Crypto.com’s
“self-certified” sports event contracts are wholly unregulated by any gaming authority.
Crypto.com not only violates IGRA, but strikes at the heart of tribal sovereignty and federal Indian
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policy by offering what is effectively unregulated nationwide online sports betting. Crypto.com’s
sports event contracts offered on Indian lands, therefore, diminish tribal bargaining power in
compact negotiations and the value of the tribes’ bargained-for benefits.
Finally, Crypto.com is siphoning revenue from tribal governments in violation of federal
Indian policy. IGRA requires all revenues from tribal gaming be used for governmental or
charitable purposes. 25 U.S.C. § 2710(b)(2)(B). As Justice Sotomayor explained in Bay Mills :
“[T]ribal gaming operations cannot be understood as mere profit-making ventures that are wholly
separate from the Tribes’ core governmental functions.” 572 U.S. at 810 (Sotomayor, J.,
concurring). Many tribes have come to rely on gaming revenue because destructive former federal
policies “left a devastating legacy” on tribes that are “largely unable to obtain substantial revenue
by taxing members … [because] there is very little income, property, or sales [that tribal
governments] could tax.” Id. at 812–13 (quoting Matthew L.M. Fletcher, In Pursuit of Tribal
Economic Development as a Substitute for Reservation Tax Revenue , 80 N.D. L. Rev. 759, 771,
774 (2004)). If Crypto.com continues to offer illegal nationwide online sports betting, the impact
on tribal governments will be devastating.
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