Tribes Urge Congress to Ban ‘Gaming-Like’ Prediction Markets 

Tribal leaders went to Washington last week to tell Congress they’re fed up with online prediction markets violating their inherited gaming rights under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).

Speaking before a Senate Indian Affairs roundtable, tribal leaders warned lawmakers that “gaming-like” prediction market contracts pose a direct threat to Indian sovereignty.

“Every dollar diverted to gaming-like prediction markets is a dollar pulled away from tribal jobs, facilities, and community programs,” testified Mark Macarro, president of the National Congress of American Indians.

Macarro is additionally the tribal chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. The tribe owns and operates one of the largest tribal casinos in the country with Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif.

“The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act must be respected. When Congress passed IGRA, it was unambiguous: tribes hold exclusive jurisdiction over gaming on Indian lands. Congress never intended for the Commodity Exchange Act to preempt IGRA,” Macarro added.

Tribes: Prediction Markets Steal Money

Tehassi Hill, the vice chairman of the Indian Gaming Association (IGA), echoed Macarro’s position that federally regulated prediction markets offering gaming-like trading directly take money from tribes.

“Every dollar generated by gaming goes to fund health care, education, housing for our elderly, public safety, and infrastructure,” said Hill.

“Indian country is rural America. We are farmers and growers. We support responsible innovation and the use of futures to hedge risk and ensure fair pricing. However, we are strongly opposed to prediction markets … offering nationwide online sports gambling to kids as young as 18m,” the IGA vice chairman added.

Jamie Hummingbird, the chair of the National Tribal Gaming Commission & Regulators, opined that simply changing what sports betting is called does not make it legal.

The rapid expansion of sports wagering prediction markets poses an immediate threat to tribal sovereignty. These products are marketed as financial instruments—commodities, derivatives, swaps—but let’s be clear and call them by their true name: sports wagering.”

Jamie Hummingbird

The tribes urged Congress to pass legislation, such as the CLARITY Act, to prevent the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from allowing prediction markets to offer sports and any other casino-style gaming.

Billions at Stake

The tribes say sports prediction markets and other gaming trading poach money from their Native casinos and gambling operations. However, in the 2025 fiscal year, gross gaming revenue at tribal casinos totaled a record $46.2 billion.

The $46.2 billion haul represented a 5.3% gain on FY24, or a difference of $2.3 billion.

As of the fiscal year’s end, there were 246 federally recognized tribal nations across 29 states that owned 545 gaming properties.