Case: 25-7187, 02/17/2026, DktEntry: 37.2, Page 36 of 41
are conducted on a CFTC-registered contract market. To the specific question in this case, the CEA expressly bars state laws from regulating or prohibiting these transactions that are conducted on CFTC-regulated DCM. C. State Gambling Laws Are Conflict Preempted. Application of gambling laws is also preempted under the concept of conflict preemption. State law is pre-empted “to the extent of any conflict with a federal statute.” Hillman v. Maretta , 569 U.S. 483, 490 (2013) (quoting Crosby v. Nat’l Foreign Trade Council , 530 U.S. 363, 372 (2000)). Conflict preemption occurs when compliance with both federal and state law is impossible, Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul , 373 U.S. 132, 142-43 (1963), or when state law “stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress,” Hines v. Davidowitz , 312 U.S. 52, 66-67 (1941). Field preemption can be understood as a type of conflict preemption, because a state law falling within a preempted field conflicts with Congress’s intent to exclude state regulation, making the categories not “rigidly distinct.” English v. Gen. Elec. Co. , 496 U.S. 72, 79 n.5 (1990). Here, gambling laws are preempted under both impossibility and obstacle conflict preemption. As for impossibility, a DCM is required by federal law to provide “impartial access” to all eligible participants nationwide. 17 C.F.R. § 38.151(b). If a state bans the contract, the DCM cannot fulfill its federal
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