Indian Gaming Association opposes revised Clarity Act
Tribal group says Senate crypto draft still lacks protections for IGRA and a ban on sports and casino event contracts
US.- The Indian Gaming Association has expressed opposition to the latest Senate draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. It says the revisions do not protect tribal gaming authority from federal commodities regulation. David Z. Bean, chairman of the association, said the group would continue to urge senators to vote against the measure after the revised text was circulated by Cynthia Lummis, chair of the Senate Banking Digital Assets Subcommittee, on Thursday.
Bean said: “While we appreciate that Senator Lummis has acknowledged the legitimate concerns raised by tribal nations, the proposed changes in the text released yesterday do not address the concerns of Indian Country.”
The bill proposes a federal market-structure framework for digital assets. Lummis claims the revised 630-page draft incorporates more than 114 changes requested by Democratic senators and narrows the decentralised finance provisions to spot and cash digital commodity transactions. She said this is intended to prevent the bill from inadvertently changing the rules for prediction market contracts and to respond to concerns raised by tribal governments.
However, Bean said the bill would still expand the authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission without drawing a clear line around tribal and state gaming law.
He said: “The bill does nothing to rein in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Instead, the CLARITY Act represents the largest expansion of CFTC authority since the 2010 Dodd-Frank bill.”
The association wants explicit language stating that federal commodities law would not preempt state or tribal gaming statutes, including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. It also wants the bill to bar designated contract markets from listing contracts based on sports betting or casino games.
The IGA has argued that prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket offer contracts tied to sports events and casino-style outcomes that should remain under tribal and state gaming rules rather than CFTC oversight.
The Senate is due to take a procedural cloture vote on Tuesday, September 15. If cloture is invoked, lawmakers could begin debate and consider amendments. If the motion fails, the bill may stall before Congress leaves Washington ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The House passed an earlier version of the bill, H.R. 3633, in July 2025. The Senate Banking Committee advanced its draft by a 15-9 vote in May.
