WASHINGTON, D.C – The Indian Gaming Association (IGA) issued the following press statement in support of and in full alignment with an official statement released by David Z. Bean, Chairman of the Indian Gaming Association, regarding the urgent need for Congressional action to address illegal sports betting conducted through so-called “prediction markets”:
“IGA emphasizes that tribes are united. The Indian Gaming Association, as a national organization representing tribal government gaming, stands shoulder to shoulder with tribal governments and our sister organizations in Indian Country in opposing these illegal gaming attempts. We demand that the CFTC fulfill its regulatory responsibilities, and, without decisive action, we urge Congress to amend the Commodity Exchange Act to strengthen the longstanding prohibition on gaming conducted outside established legal and regulatory frameworks.”
Statement from David Z. Bean, Chairman of the Indian Gaming Association:
“Indian gaming is the economic bloodline for more than 240 Tribal Governments. Revenue generated from gaming empowers Tribes to build critical infrastructure and provide basic services to reservation residents. The key to the success of Indian gaming is the comprehensive regulatory system that tribal leaders have invested in. Tribes invest more than $450 million annually, employing more than 6,000 regulators to oversee Indian gaming operations daily.
Our regulatory system – which includes partnerships with state governments and federal agencies, including the NIGC – ensures consumer protection, fraud prevention, and local decision-making to address social implications like problem and under-age gaming.
Sports betting that is being conducted through prediction markets violates tribal, federal, and state laws – including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which expressly provides tribal governments with exclusive authority to regulate gaming on Indian lands in partnership with states and the NIGC.
The Commodity Exchange Act and the CFTC [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] offer none of these protections.
It is no coincidence that the prediction market corporations selected the smallest and weakest financial regulatory agency to push out their self-certified, self-regulated online gambling platforms.
Complete inaction by the CFTC proves this point.
Prediction markets have offered sports betting for 11 months now. Just weeks ago, the CFTC issued a statement that the agency ‘has not, to date, made a determination regarding whether these contracts involve a prohibited activity.
The prediction market platforms are counting on continued inaction.
We demand that the CFTC do its job, and short of that, we urge Congress to act by amending the CEA to reinforce the existing prohibition against gaming.
Tribes have fought for too long and worked too hard to build and preserve the integrity of our industry and the resources that enable tribal governments to provide for their communities.”
