upon which its sports event contracts are based have “no inherent economic significance” or “any real economic value.” See Transcript of Motion Hearing at 15, KalshiEX LLC v. CFTC , No. 1:23-cv-03257-JMC (D.D.C. May 30, 2024). Kalshi’s sports event contracts are not hedging opportunities for interested parties to supplement the risk of a cancelled sporting event; instead, they are speculative wagers on the outcome of that sporting event. Thus, they are not dependent upon, or otherwise related to, any potential “financial, commercial, or economic consequence.” Lastly, the other provisions within the definitions of “swap” and “excluded commodity” evidence Congress’s intent to limit the nature of these transactions. See 7 U.S.C. §§ 1a(19)(i)– (iii), (47)(A)(i), (iii)–(vi). Specifically, under the canon of noscitur a sociis , the potential “financial, economic, or commercial consequence[s]” required to meet the definition of “swap” or “excluded commodity” must be related to rates, currencies, commodities, securities, instruments of indebtedness, indices, and other such quantitative measures. Id. The outcome of a sporting event is not so limited. C. The CEA does not impliedly repeal IGRA In arguing that the CFTC has exclusive jurisdiction over sports betting conducted on Indian lands, Kalshi asserts that the CEA impliedly repealed IGRA. See ECF No. 29 at 7. But Congress did not express the requisite intent for implied repeal. Courts apply “the strong presumption that repeals by implication are ‘disfavored’ and that ‘Congress will specifically address’ preexisting law when it wishes to suspend its normal operations in a latter statute.” Epic Sys. Corp. v. Lewis , 584 U.S. 497, 510 (2018) (quoting United States v. Fausto , 484 U.S. 439, 452 (1988)). Congress’s intent to repeal must be “clear and manifest.” Posadas v. Nat’l City Bank of N.Y. , 296 U.S. 497, 503 (1936). An implied repeal is only justified “when the earlier and later statutes are irreconcilable.” Morton v. Mancari , 417 U.S. 535, 550 (1974).
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