EndGame: Indian Country Lobbying, Testifying In Congress

The U.S. sports betting world moves quickly and unpredictably in 2026. In order to properly take stock of it all, we offer InGame’s “EndGame,” an end-of-week compilation of the top storylines, some overlooked items, and all the other news bits from this past week that we found interesting.

Tribes step up anti-prediction campaign

Tribal leaders met with U.S. senators and representatives this week to push for an amendment to the CLARITY Act, as Indian Country continues to fight what Indian Gaming Association Chair David Z. Bean calls “one of the greatest threats to tribal government gaming has faced in a generation.”

IGA is asking that the CLARITY Act include language banning all sports betting and casino-style gambling on prediction markets. In addition, it is seeking language clarifying that “nothing in the legislation preempts tribal, state, or federal gaming laws, including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,” per a press release.

“By relying on the fiction that sports bets are ‘swaps,’ the prediction markets undermine tribal sovereignty, violate the government-to-government agreements tribes have built with their states, and threaten the revenues our tribal nations depend on to fund healthcare, education, housing, public safety, language preservation, and essential government services,” Bean said.

The CLARITY Act has been a hot topic in Congress, though no vote is scheduled. Congress adjourns for a summer break Aug. 7, and Republican lawmakers are pushing to pass it before then. Bean is among those scheduled to testify Tuesday at the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development hearing on consumer protections and integrity regarding sports event contracts.

— Jill R. Dorson

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Arizona preparing new application window

The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADoG) announced Wednesday that it will open an application window for up to 10 “limited event wagering licenses,” which allow for in-person wagering locations at horse tracks and OTBs. The application window will run from Aug. 13-27. Costs for these licenses, which are being offered for the first time, are a $1,000 application fee, a $10,000 initial licensing fee, and a $5,000 annual fee.

The regulator is also in the process of evaluating applications for online sports betting licenses after closing an application window last Friday. According to the ADoG website, the evaluation process will last through Saturday. State law allows for 20 event wagering licenses — 10 for professional sports franchises and 10 for tribes. There are currently more than a dozen licensed platforms in Arizona, seven each partnered with professional sports franchises and tribes.

— Jill R. Dorson

Another guilty plea in Porter betting case

Ammar Awawdeh, who was arrested two years ago, agreed Thursday to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery, reports Courthouse News. Awawdeh told a federal judge in Brooklyn that he knew that a co-conspirator had access to confidential information from then-Toronto Raptor Jontay Porter, and that he used the information to bet. He was among four bettors, not including Porter, arrested in 2024 after Porter’s own gambling and sharing of information came to light.

UPDATE: Ammar Awawdeh — the co-conspirator @pablofindsout reported on in Part I of our NBA gambling investigation, across the cases of Malik Beasley, Jontay Porter, and Terry Rozier — has just reached a plea agreement with the Department of Justice. 🚨🫎 https://t.co/EX4JXroeH7 pic.twitter.com/Kivbi8gRRL
— Pablo Torre 👀 (@PabloTorre) July 10, 2026

Awawdeh could face significant time for the charges. He has also been charged in the rigged-poker scandal involving allegations against several organized crime families and former NBA player and coach Chauncey Billups.

— Jill R. Dorson

Odds and ends

The new Kentucky law that raises the minimum age to wager from 18 to 21, bans some prop bets, allows fixed-odds betting on horse racing, and bans partnerships between prediction platforms and sports betting license holders and racetracks went into effect Wednesday.
The Delaware Lottery has installed new self-service betting kiosks at 89 retail locations and three casinos. Sports bettors in the state will no longer have to await service from a clerk, and the betting menu includes same-game parlays, player props, and live bets. The lottery’s kiosks were developed through partnership with Scientific Games, with Caesars Sportsbook supplying the odds and wagering menu.