Tobique First Nation creates North America's first prediction markets law
The New Brunswick community has used its self-governance powers to launch a dedicated prediction markets framework, naming CL Specialist Projects as advisory partner.
The Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick has become the first indigenous sovereign government in North America to establish its own prediction markets legislation, according to SBC News.
The community, which recorded a population of under 3,000 members in a 2025 census, already runs an independent gambling regulator, the Tobique Gaming Commission. That body was created under the Tobique Gaming Act of 2023 and draws its authority from the nation's inherent right to self-govern, placing it outside Canada's provincial and federal gambling rules.
Tobique has now extended that self-governance model into prediction markets, enacting a dedicated Prediction Markets Act and setting up the Tobique Prediction Market Authority. The new authority will operate as a distinct body from the Tobique Gaming Commission and will be solely responsible for overseeing permit holders in the sector.
The First Nation said the statute had been enacted with the aim of building and protecting its standing as what it called an internationally credible jurisdiction for regulated prediction markets.
Tobique has appointed CL Specialist Projects Limited as its principal advisory partner on global market and business developments connected to the new framework, with the firm's director, Cliff Lewin, named as the primary advisory contact.
The move sets Tobique apart from the wider Canadian regulatory picture, where federal and provincial law has long treated short-term binary options with heavy restriction. SBC News noted that while such products are not explicitly outlawed, they have effectively been pushed into a legal grey area across Canadian jurisdictions.
By acting under its own sovereign legislative powers, Tobique sidesteps that uncertainty entirely, positioning itself alongside jurisdictions such as Gibraltar, which has taken a similarly proactive approach to regulating prediction markets in Europe.
SBC News suggested the development could prove significant beyond Tobique itself, raising the prospect that other First Nations communities might pursue their own prediction markets frameworks as separate, self-governing jurisdictions. That possibility is seen as particularly relevant in regions where broader state or provincial authorities have taken a restrictive or outright prohibitive stance on the products.
For now, Tobique stands alone as the only indigenous government in North America to have passed dedicated legislation of this kind, with the Tobique Prediction Market Authority set to take on licensing and oversight duties as the framework becomes operational.