Indian Gaming Association Urges Senate to Reject CLARITY Act Without Tribal Gaming Protections

On September 14, 2026, the Indian Gaming Association publicly called on the U.S. Senate to reject the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, known as the CLARITY Act, unless Congress adds explicit protections for Tribal sovereignty, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), and Tribal and state authority over gaming. The statement, datelined Washington, D.C., was issued under Chairman David Z. Bean and accompanied by an urgent action alert to member Tribes dated the same day.

The CLARITY Act is intended to establish a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry and clarify the jurisdictions of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The Indian Gaming Association argues that, without clear gaming protections, the legislation could allow prediction market operators to expand sports and casino-style gambling under federal commodities law while bypassing Tribal and state gaming laws. That is the association’s position; no bill text was independently reviewed, and the legal effect of the legislation remains a matter of dispute between the parties involved.

What the Indian Gaming Association says the bill does — and why it objects

According to the association, it and its partner organizations have met with members of the Senate for months, urging Congress to amend the legislation to prohibit sports betting and casino-style gambling through prediction markets and to affirm that nothing in the bill preempts Tribal, state, or federal gaming laws, including IGRA.

In its action alert, the association characterized the CLARITY Act as seeking to “legitimize the cryptocurrency industry” through SEC and CFTC regulatory guidelines, and said previous versions of the bill would permit prediction markets to expand their sports and casino gambling to cryptocurrency. The alert also asserted that the CFTC is violating Tribal and state laws by allowing gaming on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. These are the association’s allegations; they have not been established by a court or regulator as findings of fact.

Chairman Bean’s statement

Bean said Indian Country’s position remains clear, even after revisions to the bill.

“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 the revised legislation fails to address what the association considers the central threat posed by prediction markets offering sports betting and casino-style gambling outside established Tribal and state regulatory systems.

“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.”

“Until Congress expressly provides that Tribal and state gaming laws and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act are not preempted, and that federally regulated prediction markets cannot offer sports betting or casino games, Indian Country will continue to oppose the CLARITY Act,” he added. “Its enactment without these protections would represent one of the greatest threats to Tribal sovereignty in a generation.”

The specific changes the association is demanding

The Indian Gaming Association has urged Congress to include two specific provisions: language expressly stating that federal commodities law does not preempt Tribal or state gaming laws or IGRA, and a prohibition on designated contract markets — the federally registered exchanges on which prediction-market event contracts trade — from listing contracts involving sports betting or casino games.

According to the association’s account, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) released updated legislative language in response to concerns raised by several industries and organizations, including the gaming industry, credit unions, and decentralized finance interests. The association said the revisions acknowledge some concerns but “do not come close to addressing the concerns of Indian Country,” and argued in its alert that if the senator had consulted with Indian gaming before issuing the draft, the association would have said the proposed decentralized finance provisions do not sufficiently address its concerns.

Mobilizing member Tribes

In its September 14 alert, signed by Bean and Executive Director Jason Giles, the association called on member Tribes to contact their U.S. Senators and urge them to vote no on cloture and oppose passage of the CLARITY Act in its current form. The alert named a dozen senators it described as particularly important in the debate: Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Rounds (R-SD), John Hoeven (R-ND), James Lankford (R-OK), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

The alert described the CLARITY Act as the only viable opportunity to address Indian Country’s concerns in the 119th Congress, and framed the Senate’s consideration as a final chance for Tribal governments to voice opposition to prediction-market sports betting. The association’s characterization of the congressional calendar reflects its own account; no Senate schedule was independently confirmed.

Background: the August Senate roundtable

The association’s campaign builds on an August 4, 2026 roundtable held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, titled “Tracking Prediction Markets’ Exponential Growth: Tribal Implications and Beyond.” In an August 4 release, the association said the bipartisan roundtable was hosted by Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Vice Chair Brian Schatz (D-Hawaiʻi), and that Vice Chairman Tehassi Hill testified alongside Mark Macarro, President of the National Congress of American Indians; Jamie Hummingbird, Chairman of the National Tribal Gaming Commissioners & Regulators; Mathura Sridharan, Solicitor General for the State of Ohio; and Dr. Harry Levant, Director of Gambling Policy for the Public Health Advocacy Institute.

According to the association, the panel presented a unified message that prediction markets offering sports and casino-style wagering are operating outside long-established Tribal and state gaming regulatory frameworks. A Holland & Knight account of the roundtable reported that witnesses urged Congress to advance legislation that would define event contracts as gaming, subject to existing Tribal and state regulatory frameworks.

In its own account, the association said Hill told the committee that Tribal governments invest more than $450 million annually in gaming regulation and employ more than 6,000 gaming regulators — figures the association attributes to Tribal governments collectively. Hill also said the association is working with Tribal governments to compile national data on the effects of prediction markets on Tribal sportsbooks, citing collaborative research among Wisconsin Tribes, while noting that proprietary gaming data must be voluntarily shared.

Why the association says the fight goes beyond revenue

The association emphasized that its objections reach beyond gaming revenue, describing Tribal government gaming as a critical economic engine supporting governmental services, infrastructure, education, health care, public safety, housing, and economic development in Tribal communities. In its framing, prediction markets offering sports and casino-style wagering outside the framework Congress established through IGRA threaten the regulatory balance among Tribal, state, and federal governments.

“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. Tribal Nations cannot stand by while federal regulatory policy creates a back door for nationwide gambling that ignores Tribal sovereignty.”