Statement from CNIGA Chairman James Siva Ahead of Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Roundtable on Prediction Markets

Press Release
For Immediate Release

Contact: James May
(916) 754-7540
[email protected]

Statement from CNIGA Chairman James Siva Ahead of Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Roundtable on Prediction Markets

August 4, 2026

Sacramento, CA -Ahead of Tuesday's Senate Committee on Indian Affairs roundtable, "Tracking Prediction Markets: Exponential Growth, Tribal Implications, and Beyond," California Nations Indian Gaming Association Chairman James Siva issued the following statement:

"I want to thank Chairman Lisa Murkowski, Vice Chairman Brian Schatz, and the members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for examining one of the most significant challenges to Tribal gaming and Tribal sovereignty in the last 40 years.

As Congress continues debating digital asset and commodities legislation, this discussion could not come at a more important time. This roundtable should make one thing clear: Congress cannot allow commodities law or digital asset legislation to become a backdoor for nationwide gambling that bypasses the carefully balanced Tribal, state, and federal regulatory framework that has governed gaming for decades.

For Indian Country, the stakes are profound. Tribal gaming is not simply an industry. It is a cornerstone of Tribal sovereignty, self-governance, and economic self-determination. The revenues generated by Tribal gaming fund essential government services, including healthcare, education, public safety, housing, infrastructure, and programs for Tribal communities. These investments are especially critical in communities that continue to face some of the highest poverty rates and lowest life expectancy in the nation.

This debate extends far beyond financial regulation. If Congress allows what are effectively sports betting and other gaming products to operate outside the longstanding Tribal, state, and federal regulatory framework, it risks diverting revenue that supports Tribal governments and undermining the framework Congress established through the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The consequences would not be measured only in dollars. They would be felt by the elders going without meals, the children without education, and the families living in Indian Country without adequate public safety officials.

The Senate should reject the CLARITY Act unless it explicitly protects Tribal sovereignty, preserves the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and prevents commodities or digital asset law from being used to authorize sports betting and other forms of gaming that Tribal and state law have always governed. Financial innovation cannot come at the expense of Tribal sovereignty or serve as a pretext for circumventing the nation's established gaming laws."

About CNIGA

The California Nations Indian Gaming Association is a non-profit association comprised 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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