Attorney General Aaron D. Ford Co-Leads Multistate Amicus Brief Defending States’ Authority to Regulate Sports Betting

Carson City, NV — Today, Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced he has co-led a coalition of 37 states and the District of Columbia in filing an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit defending states’ longstanding authority to regulate sports betting within their borders.

The brief, filed in Kalshiex LLC v. Martin, urges the court to reject claims that federal financial regulations enacted after the 2008 financial crisis preempt state gambling laws. The states argue that Congress did not clearly or intentionally strip states of their traditional power to regulate gambling, including sports betting, and that such authority remains squarely within state police powers.

“Nevada is the foundational home of sports wagering, and states, not federal financial regulators, have decades of experience protecting consumers, preserving the integrity of sporting events, and addressing real world harms such as underage gambling,” said Attorney General Ford. “I am proud to co-lead this effort with Ohio and a bipartisan coalition of states to make clear that Congress did not quietly take away states’ authority to regulate sports wagering, and that allowing unregulated betting nationwide would upset that balance without clear authorization.”

In the brief, the states explain that gambling regulation has historically been left to the states and that courts require clear congressional intent before displacing state authority in areas of traditional state control. The coalition further warns that accepting the plaintiff’s theory would leave sports betting largely unregulated, expose consumers, particularly young people, to increased harm, and undermine carefully constructed state regulatory frameworks.

Nevada, a national leader in gaming regulation, emphasizes that its comprehensive licensing, enforcement, and consumer-protection systems are designed specifically to address the risks associated with sports betting; federal derivatives regulations were never intended to replace such protections.

The coalition filed the brief in support of Maryland officials defending the state’s authority to enforce its gambling laws.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford co-led the brief with Ohio’ Attorney General Dave Yost and joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

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