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Nearly 150 Tribes and tribal organizations have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Third Circuit’s decision in KalshiEX, LLC v. Flaherty, warning that prediction-market sports betting threatens tribal sovereignty and essential revenue, according to a JD Supra analysis by Blaine Green, Allan Van Vliet and Nathan Wexler.
The two amicus briefs back a petition from New Jersey. The Third Circuit held that federal commodities law likely prevents the state from applying its gaming laws to Kalshi’s sports-event contracts.
Two briefs, one request for review
The Cabazon Band of Cahuilla Indians filed one brief on October 6. A second, the Multi-Tribe Brief, was filed on October 8 by 130 federally recognized Tribes and 15 tribal organizations. Both urge the Court to act before prediction markets further disrupt gaming on Indian lands.
The amici argue that Kalshi’s offering of sports-event contracts on Indian lands disregards Tribes’ sovereign power to prohibit or permit gaming on their reservations. They trace that authority from California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians to Congress’s 1988 passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). The article says tribal gaming compacts rest on IGRA’s premise that only Tribes may allow gaming on Indian lands.
The Multi-Tribe Brief says Kalshi is proceeding "without tribal authorization, without state cooperation, and with almost no regulatory safeguards." It calls the resulting disparity with tribal operators "an affront to tribal sovereignty, an end-run around Congress and the States, and a violation of basic notions of fair play and sound regulation." Kalshi, per the article, contends it may be regulated only by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The Cabazon Band’s declarations say its federally approved gaming ordinance and state compact prohibit on-reservation sports betting. Even so, tribal officials were able to download Kalshi’s app and place bets on sporting events while on the Cabazon Reservation.
The tribal gaming stakes cited
The briefs cite the scale of tribal gaming. Nearly 250 tribal governments operate gaming facilities on Indian lands across 29 states. In fiscal year 2025, those facilities generated more than $46 billion in total gross gaming revenue. That revenue funds healthcare, housing, education and public safety.
Tribal governments collectively spend more than $450 million a year on gaming regulation and employ more than 6,000 gaming regulators, the article says. In California, gaming Tribes shared more than $80 million with economically disadvantaged Tribes and contributed another $77 million to other Tribes and local communities in a single year.
Circuit split and what comes next
The article says the Third Circuit’s ruling conflicts with decisions from the Ninth and Sixth Circuits. The amici argue the Court should decide the issue now, writing that "the uncertainty itself works an injury" and that Tribes must make difficult decisions about future gaming investments.
The Supreme Court has not yet said whether it will take the case. If it does, how it would resolve the split, and what the Third Circuit ruling means for prediction markets and tribal gaming if left in place, remain open questions.
More from playwv.com – West Virginia Election Betting Ban Faces Prediction-Market Questions – 39 states and DC urge Supreme Court to hear Kalshi gambling preemption case – 6th Circuit says Tennessee and Ohio can enforce gambling laws against Kalshi
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Source: As reported by JD Supra.
