USCA4 Appeal: 25-1892
Doc: 44
Filed: 12/22/2025
Pg: 9 of 39
INTRODUCTION Kalshi’s appeal wholly abandons the national policy of state and tribal sports-betting regulation. Congress’s objective in enacting the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”) was to promote tribal economic development and self- determination, which has been successful and lifted tribes across the country from poverty. Though America’s history is replete with prospectors taking resources from Indian lands without permission, Congress put a stop to that practice long ago. Nonetheless, Kalshi argues that without even a whisper of intent, Congress gave its permission to wrest control of Indian tribes’ sovereign authority to conduct and control gaming on their tribal lands. Congress did no such thing. Kalshi argues it can offer wagers on the outcome of sporting events to (and accept wagers from) people located on Indian lands through its self-proclaimed “legal sports betting” app. 1 See KalshiEX, LLC v. Hendrick , No. 2:25-cv-575, 2025 WL 3286282, at *1 (D. Nev. Nov. 24, 2025), appeal filed , No. 25-7516 (9th Cir.). If this were correct, then Congress impliedly repealed core provisions of IGRA without any reference to IGRA, Indian tribes, or Indian lands when it added a definition of “swap” into the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) in 2010—a
1 Dustin Gouker, Ten Times Kalshi Said People Could Bet on Things , Event Horizon (Apr. 3, 2025), https://nexteventhorizon.substack.com/p/ten-times-kalshi- said-people-could.
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