Tribal gaming leaders and experts are united in the belief that sports event contracts are an “existential threat” to Indian gaming during a webinar on the subject Wednesday.
The level of opposition to the emerging sector — and confidence that it is not compatible with existing laws — suggests tribes may soon attempt to sue to block sports futures contracts being offered on tribal lands or in states where tribes have exclusivity.
During a “New Normal” webinar presented by the Indian Gaming Association (IGA) entitled “This Is Happening Now — How Prediction Markets Undermine Tribal Gaming Rights,” tribal law experts warned that platforms like Kalshi offering sports wagering across the country are a threat to the foundation that Native American Gaming is built upon.
“This is an existential threat,” Scott Crowell of the Crowell Law Office Tribal Advocacy Group said. “We are not being alarmist.”
Jason Giles, executive director of the Indian Gaming Association, said that if sports futures continue to be allowed, it raises the question of why tribes should need to follow the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which governs gambling on tribal lands.
“If it’s gaming, it’s violating IGRA. And if it’s not gaming, then why are we following IGRA at all?” he said.
Joseph H. Webster, managing partner at Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, LLC, said tribes need to find a way to get involved in the legal effort, now led by states, to stop the rise of sports prediction markets. He added that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s rules disallowing futures contracts for gaming are clear, and argued that the futures regulator is merely choosing not to enforce them.
IGA Conference Chair and webinar host Victor Rocha added that the apparent sudden change in how gaming laws are enforced made him think of historical comparisons.
“As a Native American, it feels like what we read about with our history,” he said. “Our ancestors had the land, and then the rules were changed right underneath their feet. Well, the rules are changing now.”
