Tribal Groups Meet With CFTC and Maintain Sports Event Contracts Function as Betting

• A group of 17 tribal organizations met with the CFTC earlier this week
• The private roundtable discussion regarded tribal concerns with sports event contracts
• Tribes believe sports event contracts function as sports betting

A group of 17 tribal organizations met with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission earlier this week behind closed doors to discuss prediction markets and sports event contracts, sharing concerns with the federal commission regarding the contracts functioning as nothing more than sports betting on tribal land.

According to a summary of the roundtable from Indian Gaming, Matthew L. Morgan, Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association Chairman and moderator of the discussion, reported that tribes believe Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) actions undermine the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).

“We view the CFTC’s actions as undermining the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, as allowing illegal Class III gaming to infringe upon the sovereignty of tribal nations, and as undermining revenue streams that are critical to tribal government programs and services. It is OIGA’s position, as recently laid out in our comments on the proposed prediction markets rule, that the CFTC’s approach is arbitrary, capricious, and not in accord with law,” he said.

Sports Event Contracts At Forefront of Discussion

The tribal organizations discussed CFTC rulemakings on prediction markets, tribal concerns around sports event contracts, and tribal concerns around prediction market advertising nationally and on tribal land. CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig was in attendance at the roundtable.

The summation of the meeting regarding sports event contracts settled on the inter-tribal organizations maintaining that the CFTC cannot treat sports event contracts as ordinary financial products when tribes believe they function in the same way as sports betting.

Sports event contracts on tribal land directly affects Indian gaming, the organizations noted, and erodes the gaming compact framework Congress has established through IGRA.

Sports Event Contracts and IGRA

As the CFTC believes its event contracts – specifically sports event contracts – are not forms of sports betting, so there is no belief that the investment products infringe on tribal sovereignty or IGRA.

The tribal organizations at the roundtable fundamentally disagreed with the assessment, reminding the CFTC it has a duty to “meaningfully consult with Tribal Nation.” The roundtable, the tribes noted, does not supersede or replace the government-to-government consultation that must take place with tribes that may have been affected by event contracts.

“The discussion reflected the desire of the participating inter-tribal organizations to collaborate with Chairman Selig and CFTC staff regarding regulatory actions related to prediction markets and event contracts. While the organizations collectively represent the majority of Tribal Nations in the United States and welcomed the opportunity to meet with the CFTC, they are not themselves sovereign Tribal Nations. The roundtable was not a substitute for government-to-government consultation and should not be interpreted as such,” Indian Gaming noted in its summary of the meeting.