Indian gaming opposed to CLARITY Act

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Indian gaming leaders are urging the U.S. Senate to reject legislation intended to establish a national regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, arguing the measure could unintentionally create a federal avenue for sports betting and casino-style gambling that circumvents tribal and state gaming laws.

Indian Gaming Association Chairman David Z. Bean said the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, commonly called the CLARITY Act, should not pass unless Congress explicitly protects tribal sovereignty, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and existing tribal and state authority over gambling.

CLARITY was not drafted primarily as gambling legislation. Its supporters have promoted it as an answer to years of uncertainty surrounding federal regulation of cryptocurrency and other digital assets.

At the center of that debate is the sometimes uncertain division of authority between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Proponents contend that companies and investors need predictable rules establishing when a digital asset is a security regulated by the SEC and when it is a commodity subject to CFTC jurisdiction.

Supporters also argue that regulatory uncertainty has encouraged American cryptocurrency businesses and investment to move overseas. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., has said the legislation would provide stronger consumer safeguards, give regulators and law enforcement better tools against fraud and illicit finance, and allow legitimate digital-asset innovation to remain in the United States.

That argument has attracted support from members of both parties. The House passed the legislation in 2025 by a 294-134 vote, with 78 Democrats joining 216 Republicans. In May, the Senate Banking Committee advanced the measure 15-9.

Indian gaming interests, however, see a potentially serious consequence in legislation designed primarily to solve an entirely different regulatory problem.

Prediction markets allow customers to buy contracts based upon the outcome of future events. Increasingly, those events include sporting contests. Because federally regulated prediction markets can fall under CFTC commodities jurisdiction, tribal gaming leaders fear operators could effectively offer nationwide sports wagering while avoiding the tribal-state regulatory structure governing conventional sports books and casinos.

For months, IGA and partner organizations have urged senators to amend CLARITY to prohibit sports betting and casino-style gambling through prediction markets and explicitly state that federal commodities law does not preempt tribal and state gaming laws or IGRA.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., recently released revised legislative language after concerns were raised by the gaming industry and other interests. IGA said those revisions still do not adequately address Indian Country’s concerns.

“We want to make it absolutely clear that Indian Country is opposed to this version of the CLARITY Act,” Bean said. “While we appreciate that Senator Lummis has acknowledged the legitimate concerns raised by Tribal Nations, the proposed changes do not address the fundamental concerns of Indian Country.”

Bean said IGA’s principal objection is not federal regulation of cryptocurrency itself but the possibility that expanded CFTC authority could provide prediction-market companies a pathway around established gaming laws.

“The bill does nothing to rein in the CFTC at a time when prediction market platforms are already offering gambling products that threaten Tribal and state gaming laws,” Bean said. “Instead, the CLARITY Act would expand CFTC authority without providing the clear protections Congress must put in place for Tribal sovereignty, state sovereignty, and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.”

IGA wants Congress to expressly declare that federal commodities law does not preempt IGRA or tribal and state gaming laws. It also wants designated contract markets prohibited from listing event contracts involving sports betting or casino games.

Without those provisions, Bean characterized CLARITY as potentially one of the greatest threats to tribal sovereignty in a generation.

Indian gaming has developed into a major source of governmental revenue since Congress enacted IGRA in 1988. Gaming revenues fund tribal governmental operations and services including education, health care, housing, infrastructure and public safety.

That makes the dispute more than a disagreement over which federal agency should regulate a new financial product.

Prediction markets operating under federal commodities law could potentially compete with tribal gaming operations without being subject to the regulatory framework Congress established under IGRA. IGA argues this would upset the balance of authority among tribal, state and federal governments developed during nearly four decades of Indian gaming law.

“This is about much more than one piece of legislation or one industry,” Bean said. “This is about whether the federal government will respect the sovereign authority of Tribal Nations and the laws Congress itself established to govern Indian gaming.”

IGA is asking member tribes and tribal leaders nationwide to contact their senators and oppose cloture and final passage unless the legislation is amended.

“Indian Country must speak with one voice,” Bean said. “We are asking the Senate to protect Tribal sovereignty, protect Tribal government economies, stop the expansion of illegal prediction market gambling, and vote no on the CLARITY Act unless Indian Country’s concerns are fully addressed.”

(James Giago Davies is an enrolled member of OST. Contact him at skindiesel@msn.com)

The post Indian gaming opposed to CLARITY Act first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source