Four tribes launch Kalshi-backed apps as Cabazon asks Supreme Court to intervene

Four Native American tribes on Wednesday launched apps backed by Kalshi to operate prediction markets, saying the initiative is part of tribal sovereignty and a search for new revenue streams. The filings and rollouts came as the Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take New Jersey v. Kalshi and reverse the Third Circuit’s decision that favored Kalshi, arguing the ruling threatens tribal authority to regulate gaming on their lands.

## Tribal launches and economic aims with Kalshi

Three of the four apps were driven by California tribes and one by an Oklahoma community. The Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation (Colusa County, California) launched Sovereign Edge; Greenville Rancheria (northern California) launched Greenville; and Alturas Indian Rancheria (northeast California) launched AIR Markets. The Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town (Wetumka, Oklahoma) launched PokkeTrades, according to Fortune.

For the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation the motivation is pragmatic. Administrator Eric Wright told CNN the reservation lacks potable water and he expects app revenue to help fund water projects. Wright said, “We are not a big gaming tribe with a ton of economic money lying around. At its core, this is about tribal sovereignty and economic self-determination.”

Michael Stopp, a Cherokee entrepreneur who worked with Alabama-Quassarte, told CNN he initially feared being a symbolic tribal partner for Kalshi: “I did not want to be just the red face out there. But we did due diligence and really vetted the companies we work with, and they have set up a solid program for these tribes. It’s a legitimate opportunity.”

The new apps follow SaltTrade Derivatives, the first tribal prediction-markets app powered by Kalshi launched by the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana less than a month earlier. Chairman Marshall Pierite told CNN other tribal leaders have asked how they could join that effort.

## Why Cabazon went to the Supreme Court

The Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians is not a casual critic. In 1987 the tribe was central to California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, the Supreme Court decision that prevented California from imposing its gaming restrictions on certain games on the Cabazon and Morongo reservations. That victory helped lay the legal foundation that led, in 1988, to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the federal framework that still governs tribal gaming.

In its filing to the Supreme Court, Cabazon argues that the very legal structure it helped create is now being undermined by Kalshi’s offerings. Cabazon asserted, “As the tribe whose actions ‘opened the door’ for tribal gaming, the Cabazon Band is especially well-positioned to call the Court’s attention to this critical situation.”

Jonathan Rosser, Cabazon’s Director of Legal Affairs, gave a concrete example in an affidavit: he downloaded the Kalshi app from his office on the reservation on September 22 and placed a $25 bet on the Minnesota Vikings–Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. Jose Escobar Rivera, Executive Director of the Cabazon Tribal Gaming Commission, said that operation was prohibited by the tribe’s federally approved gaming ordinance, violated its compact with California and was illegal under IGRA. The amicus brief argues these violations are already occurring on tribal land.

## The legal core: CFTC, the Commodity Exchange Act and IGRA

At issue is whether New Jersey can apply its sports-betting laws to Kalshi’s event contracts, or whether the federal commodities law gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) exclusive authority over those contracts. New Jersey asked the Supreme Court to review the case after the Third Circuit ruled for Kalshi in April.

Cabazon warns the Third Circuit’s reasoning could place Kalshi’s sports-event contracts squarely within the CFTC’s regulatory domain, rather than governed by the tribal, state and federal gaming regime under IGRA.

## Split courts and effects on tribes

Cabazon cites two recent Ninth Circuit decisions that push back against the Third Circuit’s reasoning. In August, a panel in KalshiEX v. Assad allowed Nevada to enforce its gaming laws against Kalshi’s sports contracts, concluding those contracts are likely not swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act. In September, in Blue Lake Rancheria v. Kalshi, another Ninth Circuit panel sided with two California tribes, finding they are likely to succeed in alleging that the activity constitutes gaming governed by IGRA.

The Blue Lake decision is especially relevant because it addressed the intersection of prediction markets, tribal lands and IGRA, rejecting Kalshi’s argument that operations do not occur on tribal land because exchange infrastructure is located elsewhere; the panel held that the customer’s location matters.

Cabazon asks the Supreme Court to resolve the split by taking New Jersey’s case and overturning the Third Circuit. Kalshi’s response to New Jersey’s petition is due before November 9, after the Court granted an extension.

“These are not theoretical concerns. These violations are occurring right now,” Cabazon writes in its brief to the Supreme Court.

## Practical consequences for tribes and Kalshi operators

Until the Supreme Court acts, the question will be decided by each tribe and by judicial geography. Some tribes are building their own prediction-market businesses on Kalshi infrastructure to generate revenue; others document operations on their reservations as violations of federal law and their gaming ordinances. Operators and vendors face an operational and compliance question: if the Court confirms CFTC authority, Kalshi’s offerings could be insulated from tribal ordinances and compacts; if the Court sides with Cabazon and the Ninth Circuit rulings, tribes and states will have more room to apply local gaming rules to those contracts.

The outcome will directly affect who regulates prediction markets built on sports contracts and the ability of tribes to control gaming activity on their reservations. For operators, this is also a question of where to focus compliance resources and licensing strategy, and it could affect partnerships between tribes and platforms such as Kalshi.

## What the sector should watch

1. Kalshi’s response by November 9; 2. Whether the Supreme Court takes New Jersey v. Kalshi; 3. How lower courts apply Blue Lake and KalshiEX in future cases.

• Key near-term dates and items include Kalshi’s filing deadline of November 9.

• Meanwhile, the roll‑out of Kalshi‑backed tribal apps continues on multiple reservations, and disagreement among tribes about the nature of sovereignty remains a defining factor in adoption or rejection of these products. Operators and observers should also watch how regulators such as the [CFTC](/regulation) react and how states and tribes use [b2b](/b2b) partnerships to structure offers.

• These developments have immediate revenue and regulatory implications for tribes that choose to launch apps and for operators that build on Kalshi’s infrastructure.

For now, legal outcomes will vary by jurisdiction and by tribal choices about enforcement and partnerships.

By Renata Quiroga, Betting Markets Correspondent.