Case: 2:25-cv-01165-SDM-CMV Doc #: 34-1 Filed: 11/14/25 Page: 17 of 22 PAGEID #: 535
Finally, even if there were a conflict (there is not), the CEA’s silence as to class III gaming on Indian lands and its effect on IGRA means it is, at most, ambiguous as to whether the CEA repealed IGRA, and that ambiguity must be resolved in tribes’ favor under the Indian canons of construction. C. Kalshi’s sports-event contracts constitute “Class III Gaming” under IGRA IGRA’s regulatory regime is comprehensive, and occupies the entire field of gaming on Indian lands. See Tamiami Partners, Ltd. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians , 63 F.3d 1030, 1033 (11th Cir. 1995) (IGRA was “intended to expressly preempt the field in the governance of gaming activities on Indian lands” (quoting S. Rep. No. 100-446, at 6 (1988))); Gaming Corp. , 88 F.3d at 544. IGRA’s implementing regulations define “Class III Gaming” to expressly include “sports betting.” 25 C.F.R. § 502.4(c). The term “sports betting” is generally understood to mean:
[T]he staking or risking by any person of something of value upon the outcome of … a sporting event … upon an agreement or understanding that the person or another person will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.
31 U.S.C. § 5362(1)(A) (defining “bet or wager” under the UIGEA). Specifically, regarding what “sports betting” means under IGRA, the Department of the Interior has affirmatively approved compacts that define “sports betting” to include exactly the type of betting that Kalshi offers. 11 11 See, e.g. , 2024 Amendments to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and State of Wisconsin Gaming Compact of 1992, Part IV.A.12 (Mar. 29, 2024) (defining “event wagering” as “accepting wagers on the outcomes of, and occurrences within, sports and non- sports games, competitions, and matches”) Agreement Between the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut and the State of Connecticut, Section 1(nn) (Sept. 10, 2021) (defining “sports wagering” as “risking or accepting any money … or other thing of value for gain contingent in whole or in part, (A) by any system or method of wagering, … and (B) based on (1) a live sporting event or a portion or portions of a live sporting event, including future or propositional
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