Case 3:25-cv-02121-VDO Document 58-1 Filed 01/16/26 Page 19 of 29
This Court should therefore reject Coinbase’s preemption argument requiring an implied repeal of IGRA. E. IGRA Regulates Online Gaming on Tribes’ Indian Lands—Including Coinbase’s Sports-Betting Contracts. Coinbase’s partner, Kalshi, has previously tried to avoid the implied repeal of IGRA required by these same preemption arguments by asserting that IGRA “does not authorize tribes to regulate gaming available over the internet” and is therefore inapplicable to its sports-betting activity. See Brief of Appellant at 55, KalshiEX LLC v. Martin , No. 25-1892 (4th Cir. Oct. 15, 2025), ECF No. 16. But the issue here isn’t whether tribes can regulate Coinbase’s (or Kalshi’s) sports betting on Indian lands (they can). Rather, it is whether Congress set up a regulatory system that is incompatible with IGRA. And Coinbase’s theory means it can offer sports betting even to people physically located on Indian lands contrary to tribal prohibitions, just as it does in states notwithstanding state law prohibitions. 7 In states like Connecticut, where tribes have substantial exclusivity over sports betting, Coinbase again does double damage: it violates both tribal restrictions on sports betting conducted on Indian lands pursuant to IGRA and Connecticut law protecting tribal exclusivity. Ironically, in arguing that IGRA does not authorize tribes to regulate online gaming, Kalshi cited West Flagler Associates, Ltd. v. Haaland , which held that IGRA allows states and tribes to allocate jurisdiction over the regulation of internet gaming conducted by a tribe throughout the state, including on its Indian lands. Id. ; see 71 F.4th 1059, 1061–62, 1066 (D.C.
7 For example, Coinbase allows any user over the age of 18 to bet on the outcome of sporting events; whereas, the Connecticut Tribes’ gaming agreements and Connecticut law prohibit sports wagering for anyone under the age of 21. Mohegan Agreement § 5; Mashantucket Pequot Agreement § 5; Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-863(a)(1).
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