June 19, 2025
| TO: Indian Gaming Association Member Tribes & Partners FROM: Ernest L. Stevens Jr., Chairman Jason Giles, Executive Director RE: ACTION NEEDED! Sign-On To Maryland District Court Amicus – Must Sign By 5:00 p.m. PST on Friday, June 20th. Date: June 5, 2025 |
| In response to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) allowing sports and events contracts to be traded under their regulations, several States have sued and/or issued cease and desist letters to Kalshi, Inc. The State of Maryland has an active case before the U.S. District Court for Maryland. IGA is joining a tribal Amicus Brief in the Maryland case and we are asking that our Tribal Nation Membership join the Brief. Please have your Tribe sign-on to the Attached Amicus Brief that IGA, NCAI, and several Tribes will be filing in the U.S. District Court for Maryland. DEADLINE TO SIGN ON TO THE AMICUS IS FRIDAY, JUNE 20th, at 5:00 p.m PST. (See attached) Please forward your Legal Counsel’s Name, and State Bar Admission to Danielle Her Many Horses, dhermanyhorses@indiangaming.org Unless acted upon, the number of sports-based event contracts traded on the Derivatives/Futures market is only expected to grow, ushering in growing reason for concern for tribal gaming operators and regulators across the United States. It will be crucial moving forward for Tribal governments to closely follow this matter as it evolves in the CFTC and in the courts. By allowing these event contracts that are wholly unrelated to commodities, the CFTC risks making public policy decisions that ignore the detrimental impacts from sports betting that every State and Tribal government has a sovereign duty to evaluate. Additionally, every sports event contract that is traded on tribal land or in violation of a Tribal-State compact deprives tribes and states of revenue that our communities rely upon. Download Amicus Briefing – Click Here |