Case 3:25-cv-02121-VDO Document 58-1 Filed 01/16/26 Page 21 of 29
person on tribal lands plays a gambling game with a state-based gambling business, the game must not violate tribal law”). II. The Major Questions Doctrine Forecloses Coinbase’s Theory. In 2010, federal law—namely, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”)—prohibited sports betting nationwide. Coinbase’s position thus requires interpreting the CEA not only to eradicate state and federal gaming laws by preemption or implied repeal, but to reverse the federal policy that, at the time, prohibited sports betting into a nationwide authorization under the sole jurisdiction of the CFTC. 8 Whether Congress did so is a major question. Under the Major Questions Doctrine, courts have “‘reason to hesitate before concluding that Congress’ meant to confer” agency authority in cases where the agency has asserted a “breadth” of authority over matters of “economic and political significance.” West Virginia v. EPA , 597 U.S. 697, 721 (2022) (internal quotation marks omitted). In such cases, considering “both separation of powers principles and a practical understanding of legislative intent,” there must be “clear congressional authorization.” Id. at 723 (internal quotation marks omitted). Further, “Congress [does not] typically use oblique or elliptical language to empower an agency to make a ‘radical or fundamental change’ to a statutory scheme.” Id. (quoting MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. Am. Telephone & Telegraph Co. , 512 U.S. 218, 229 (1994)).
8 Coinbase’s sports-betting contracts also violate other federal laws, including the Wire Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1084, the Illegal Gambling Business Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1955, and the Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1952(a). If Congress authorized sports betting via the CEA in 2010, then it also effectively limited the scope of these federal laws, in addition to PASPA.
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