On October 8, 2026, a broad coalition of Tribal Nations and Tribal organizations called on the Supreme Court of the United States to take up Flaherty v. KalshiEX and reject efforts by Kalshi and other prediction market companies to conduct sports betting in violation of the rules that apply to everyone else.
The amicus brief, filed by more than 140 Tribal Nations and Tribal organizations, makes the case that Kalshi’s sports-event contracts are sports bets, regardless of what the company calls them. But Kalshi is flouting the comprehensive set of rules that apply to sports betting. Of particular concern to Tribes, Kalshi is offering its sports betting on Indian lands, without Tribal authorization, and in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the 1988 federal law that governs Indian gaming. Worse still, Kalshi operates with minimal oversight; Kalshi claims it is not subject to the rules Tribes and states impose on sports betting to protect consumers and the integrity of gaming.
As the brief states: “This state of affairs is unacceptable. It is 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.”
The brief makes clear that Congress did not, by adding a single word – “swaps” – to the Commodity Exchange Act in 2010, silently overturn decades of federal, state and Tribal gaming law and regulation. As the Ninth Circuit put it, Congress did not take a “wrecking ball” to the gaming framework built over decades by federal, state and Tribal governments. The Third Circuit reached the opposite conclusion, creating a conflict that now calls for Supreme Court resolution.
A Fundamental Attack on Tribal Sovereignty and a Threat to Tribal Self-Sufficiency
The brief highlights the threat the Third Circuit’s decision poses to Indian self-government and self-sufficiency and it underscores the need for the Supreme Court to reject it swiftly and definitively. First, Kalshi offers sports-event contracts on Indian lands without authorization, in violation of tribal sovereignty, IGRA, and tribal-state compacts.
Additionally, Kalshi’s illegal sports betting siphons away critical revenue Tribes use to sustain themselves. More than 250 Tribal governments operate gaming facilities on Indian lands across 29 states. The revenue they generate supports essential Tribal governmental services including health care, education, housing, public safety, infrastructure and cultural preservation. Prediction market companies, the brief says, unfairly compete for those gaming dollars: They bypass the requirements lawful gaming operators must meet under federal, state, and Tribal law.
The consequences are stark: “Every dollar illegally diverted to gaming on prediction markets is a dollar that no longer goes to jobs, housing, healthcare, education, public safety, and other critical government services for tribal citizens and their surrounding communities.”
And indeed, it is not just Tribes themselves that are affected. Indian gaming operations are an important part of local, and even regional, economies, providing jobs, economic opportunity, and much more.
Accordingly, the Tribal coalition is asking the Court to grant certiorari and “restore the balance among federal, state, and tribal gaming regulation that Congress struck and Kalshi and its imitators have upset.”
The Tribal Nations and Tribal organizations are represented by the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) along with Rachel Shalev, Eric Citron, and Edwina Clarke of Zimmer, Citron & Clarke LLP.
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