CNIGA Applauds Senate Effort to Protect Tribal Sovereignty in Digital Asset Legislation

Press Release
For Immediate Release

Contact: James May
(916) 754 7540
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CNIGA Applauds Senate Effort to Protect Tribal Sovereignty in Digital Asset Legislation

July 17, 2026

The California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) today applauded a group of Senators who have written a letter urging congressional negotiators to protect tribal sovereignty and ensure pending digital asset legislation does not undermine the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), tribal-state gaming compacts, or the authority of states and tribes to regulate lawful gaming.
The letter, sent to the leadership of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, calls on Congress to include explicit safeguards to stop federally regulated prediction market platforms from being used to circumvent longstanding state and tribal gaming laws, and to ensure the bill's decentralized finance provisions also protect tribal government revenue.

Twelve senators signed the letter: Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Gary Peters (D-MI).

"CNIGA appreciates Senator Martin Heinrich's timely and effective leadership on this issue. We are also so lucky to have the support of our California Senators, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, who understand how important this issue is to Indian Country," said CNIGA Chairman James Siva. "Their efforts reflect a growing consensus in Congress that federal commodity laws should never be used to undermine the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act or create backdoor, black-market gambling syndicates."

CNIGA has consistently urged Congress to ensure that digital asset legislation cannot be used to expand federally regulated prediction markets into sports wagering, casino-style gaming, or other forms of gaming governed by state and tribal law. Tribal governments rely on gaming revenues to fund essential public services, including healthcare, education, housing, infrastructure, public safety, and economic development.

Those revenues are made possible by a carefully balanced legal framework established under IGRA and tribal-state compacts, which are currently being undermined by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) permissive approach to gambling enforcement through the futures market.

"The issue before Congress is larger than gaming," Siva continued. "It is whether tribal nations across the country have the resources they need to put cops on the street, children in schools, and feed their elders. Congress can support responsible innovation in digital assets while also protecting our people."

As Congress continues negotiations on digital asset legislation, CNIGA urged lawmakers to reject the legislation unless it adopts clear statutory language affirming that nothing in the legislation preempts or limits tribal authority under IGRA or authorizes federally regulated entities to offer event contracts that replicate sports wagering or casino-style games.

About CNIGA
The California Nations Indian Gaming Association is a nonprofit association comprised of 58 federally recognized tribal governments dedicated to protecting tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of tribes to conduct gaming on Indian lands.

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