Press Release
For Immediate Release

Contact: James May
(916) 754-7540
james@cniga.com

CNIGA Chairman James Siva Statement on CFTC’s Prediction Market So-Called Regulatory Relief for Tribal Market Access

September 17, 2026

Sacramento, CA —California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) Chairman James Siva issued the following statement on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) prediction market so-called regulatory relief for Tribal market access:

"The CFTC appears to believe that if it offers Tribes a pathway into prediction markets, it can somehow resolve the fundamental legal problems these products present. It can’t.

This announcement changes nothing about the core issue. Sports-event contracts remain illegal gambling, regardless of who offers them. Calling them financial products does not change their underlying nature or exempt them from longstanding federal, state, and Tribal laws governing lawful gaming. This is nothing more than a divide-and-conquer strategy to try and weaken the legitimate concerns we have raised about this illegal gambling operation.

Just yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court reaffirmed that sports-event contracts constitute Class III gaming under federal law. That decision underscores what Tribal Nations, states, and law enforcement officials have been saying all along: these products can’t be rebranded as commodities to avoid established gaming laws.

The fight over prediction markets is far from over. We expect these issues to continue to be litigated in courts across the country, and ultimately, they are likely to require resolution by the Supreme Court.

Tribal Nations have never opposed innovation or new markets. We are united in opposition to a regulatory loophole that lets companies offer sports betting and casino-style gaming outside the legal framework Congress established through the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the Tribal-state compact system.

No amount of regulatory creativity can change this fundamental reality."

About the California Nations Indian Gaming Association
The California Nations Indian Gaming Association is a non-profit association of 58 federally recognized tribal governments dedicated to the protection of tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of tribes to have gaming on Indian lands.

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