Case 1:25-cv-01283-ABA Document 26 Filed 05/09/25 Page 21 of 36
b. Gaming Devices Cannot Be “Swaps” Under Numerous Canons of Statutory Interpretation.
i.
Canon Against Implied Repeal.
If sports gaming contracts were “swaps,” it would impl iedly repeal several federal statutes.
The Supreme Court has noted repeatedly that interpreting statutes in a manner that would impliedly
repeal others is disfavored. See, e.g., Epic Sys. Corp. v. Lewis , 584 U.S. 497, 510 (2018) (applying
“the strong presumption that repeals by implication are disfavored and that Congress will
specifically address preexisting law when it wishes to suspend its normal operations in a later
statute”) (cleaned up). However, including sports gaming contracts in the CEA’s definition of
“swaps” would impliedly repeal two other federal statutory schemes governing gaming: the W ire
Act and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ( “IGRA”).
The Wire Act criminalizes businesses engaged in “betting or wagering” that “use[] a wire
communication facility” to transmit “bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets
or wagers on any sporting event or contest” where such wagering is illegal under state law. 18
U.S.C. § 1084(a)-(b). Currently, Kalshi is likely in violation of the Wire Act by assisting in the
placing of bets or wagers in multiple sports events in violation of Maryland law. See Md. Ann.,
Crim. Law § 12-113. In asking this court to enjoin Maryland law and declare sports gaming to be
“swaps,” Kalshi also asks this court to repeal the Wire Act by implication ; this is simply not a
plausible reading of 7 U.S.C. § 1a(47)(A)(ii). If Congress had intended to repeal the Wire Act in
passing Dodd-Frank, it would have done so.
In addition, the IGRA designates sports gambling as “Class III” gaming and prohibits such
activity on tribal lands unless the relevant Tribe and State where the tribal land is located both
authorize sports gaming pursuant to a “Tribal - State compact.” See 25 U.S.C. § 2703(8); 25 C.F.R.
§ 502.4(c); 25 U.S.C. § 2710(d)(1). The purpose of the IG RA is “to provide a statutory basis for
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