Federal Judge Bars Kalshi From Offering Sports Contracts on California Tribal Lands

A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered Kalshi to stop offering sports event contracts on the lands of the California tribes that sued the prediction market operator. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California granted a preliminary injunction on Wednesday in Blue Lake Rancheria v. Kalshi after the Ninth Circuit remanded the case following its September ruling that the contracts likely qualify as Class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).

Injunction scope and immediate steps

The one-page order enjoins Kalshi from offering "any sports contracts" on the plaintiff tribes' Indian lands. It covers contracts that "facially involve, relate to, or reference" the following sports: Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Chess, eSports, Football, Golf, Hockey, Motorsports, Pickleball, Soccer, Tennis, Wrestling and Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The tribes must deliver maps of their California land boundaries to Kalshi by Nov. 13, 2026. The company then has 21 days to report to the court on the steps it took to comply.

Why the court changed course after the Ninth Circuit

Corley originally denied the tribes' injunction request in November 2025, finding the tribes unlikely to succeed under IGRA or the Lanham Act and treating Kalshi's yes-or-no contracts as products regulated under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). The Ninth Circuit rejected that analysis in September 2026.

A unanimous Ninth Circuit panel held that Blue Lake Rancheria and Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians are likely to succeed in showing Kalshi's sports contracts violate IGRA and the tribes' gaming ordinances when users enter them from tribal land. Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote,

"Kalshi may reshuffle the cards, but it cannot change the hand: Its sports event contracts are class III gaming."

The panel also rejected Kalshi's argument that the contracts occur only where its New York exchange and servers sit, finding the contracts are "located on Indian lands" when a user buys one from tribal territory. It held that even if the contracts were swaps, the CEA's grant of exclusive jurisdiction to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would not displace IGRA. The panel remanded the case to Judge Corley to weigh irreparable harm, the balance of equities and the public interest. The Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of the tribes' Lanham Act false-advertising claim.

How this differs from Wisconsin litigation

In May 2026, U.S. District Judge William Conley denied the Ho-Chunk Nation's injunction request against Kalshi and Robinhood in Wisconsin. Conley allowed the Ho-Chunk's core IGRA claims to proceed but found no irreparable harm: the tribe offered no evidence of declining casino attendance or revenue or even one customer switching to Kalshi, and he described any interim loss as marginal and compensable.

By contrast, the California tribes persuaded Judge Corley that they would suffer irreparable harm, which is why she granted the injunction after the Ninth Circuit's remand.

Broader appellate split and possible Supreme Court review

The tribes' injunction in California arrives amid a wider federal-state-tribal split over regulation of sports event contracts. On Aug. 28 the Ninth Circuit ruled in Kalshi's Nevada case that its sports contracts are likely not swaps protected by the CEA, leaving state regulators able to enforce gaming law; the panel denied Kalshi's request for rehearing and rehearing en banc on Wednesday, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court as Kalshi's potential path to reverse that decision.

The Third Circuit reached the opposite conclusion in April 2026, holding that the CEA likely preempts New Jersey's attempt to regulate Kalshi. New Jersey petitioned the Supreme Court on Sept. 2, 2026, and petitions from Robinhood and Crypto.com followed. The Court extended Kalshi's response deadline to Dec. 7, 2026.

A coalition of 130 federally recognised tribes and 15 tribal organisations filed an amicus brief urging the justices to take the New Jersey case. Attorneys general from 38 states and Washington, D.C., the NFL and the American Gaming Association filed briefs backing New Jersey.

What this means for the litigation timeline

The injunction confines Kalshi's sports contracts off the named California tribal lands pending further proceedings in the Northern District of California. The injunction is the first preliminary injunction any tribe has secured against Kalshi, and it follows the Ninth Circuit's finding that the contracts likely qualify as Class III gaming under IGRA. The case now sits within a broader set of appeals and Supreme Court petition activity that could resolve the national regulatory question.