Case 1:25-cv-01283-ABA Document 26 Filed 05/09/25 Page 22 of 36
the operation of gaming by Indian [T]ribes as a means of promoting tribal economic development,
self- sufficiency, and strong tribal governments.” 25 U.S.C. § 2702(1) . Tribes often receive a
substantial degree of exclusivity to offer gaming, including sports betting, as a benefit of their
bargain in these compacts. See Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Bringing Balance to Indian Gaming , 44
Harv. J. on Legis. 39, 75 & n.243 (2007). Just like the Wire Act, if this court deems sports gaming
contracts to be swaps, it would be eviscerating the IGRA as well.
ii.
The Specific Governs the General.
“The specific governs the general,” especially when, as here, “a general permission
or prohibition [ i.e. , the CEA’s definition of ‘swap’] is contradicted by a specific prohibition or
permission [ i.e. , the Wire Act’s express prohibition against interstate gambling on sports or
IGRA’s express prohibition against Class III gaming on tribal lands absent complia nce with the
three requirements in 25 U.S.C. § 2710(d)(1) ].” RadLAX Gateway Hotel, LLC v. Amalgamated
Bank , 566 U.S. 639, 645 (2012) (citation omitted). Thus, this canon complements the canon
against implied repeal. Congress cannot be understood to have repealed the Wire Act and IGRA
when it passed Dodd-Frank. Moreover, the specific, express prohibition against sports gaming in
the Wire Act and IGRA governs over the broad, general definition of “swap.”
iii.
Noscitur a sociis .
Under the principle of noscitur a sociis – a word is known by the company it keeps – courts
must avoid ascribing to one word a meaning so broad that it is inconsistent with its accompanying
words, thus “giving unintended breadth to the Acts of Congress.” Yates v. United States , 574 U.S.
528, 543 (2015) (plurality) (citation and quotation marks omitted). When “several items in a list
share an attribute,” the principle favors “interpreting the other items as possessing that attribute as
well.” Beecham v. United States , 511 U.S. 368, 371 (1994). Here, surrounding sub-clause (ii) that
defines swaps as “associated with a potential financial, economic, or commercial consequence”
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