Case: 3:25-cv-00698-wmc Document #: 56-1 Filed: 01/06/26 Page 3 of 13
lands from organized crime. 25 U.S.C. §§ 2701(5), 2702(1)-(2). Through IGRA, many tribes have lifted entire generations out of poverty, and tribal gaming revenue provides critical funding to tribal, state, and local governments through revenue-sharing agreements, taxes, and economic stimulus. See Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Cmty. , 572 U.S. 782, 810 (2014) (Sotomayor, J., concurring) (“[T]ribal gaming operations cannot be understood as mere profit-making ventures that are wholly separate from the Tribes’ core governmental functions.”). For tribes, gaming is not merely a “commercial” endeavor, but an existential one. See Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians v. California , 42 F.4th 1024, 1032 (9th Cir. 2022) (“Class III gaming is not only a source of substantial revenue for tribes, but the lifeblood on which many tribes ha[ve] come to rely .” (internal quotations and citations omitted, and emphasis added)). Among other things, IGRA prohibits class III gaming, including sports betting, on Indian lands unless three conditions are met: (1) it is authorized by the tribal government; (2) it is permitted in the state where the Indian lands are located; and (3) it is “conducted in conformance with a Tribal-State compact.” 25 U.S.C. § 2710(d)(1); 25 C.F.R. § 502.4(c). Despite this, Defendants use their online platform to conduct sports betting nationwide, including on Ho- Chunk’s tribal lands. Notably, they do not even bother to argue that their “sports event contracts” are not sports betting within the meaning of IGRA or the Nation’s gaming ordinances. See generally ECF Nos. 29 & 32. This is probably for good reason. As the Nevada District Court recently found, Defendants’ sports-betting contracts “are sports wagers and everyone who sees them knows it.” KalshiEX, LLC v. Hendrick , No. 2:25-CV-00575-APG-BNW, 2025 WL 3286282, at *8 (D. Nev. Nov. 24, 2025). At bottom, Defendants argue that tribal sovereignty and Congress’s “carefully crafted and intricate scheme [under IGRA]” cannot stop their brazenly illegal sports betting activities that
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