Four Native American tribes are splitting from the Indian casino establishment to partner with Kalshi to create new gambling apps – widening a bitter rift as the prediction-markets giant woos tribal leaders in an escalating turf war.
Three tribes in California and one in Oklahoma are launching tribal-branded prediction market apps powered by Kalshi, saying the tie-ups would allow them to capture a slice of revenue in the booming business of prediction markets – which offers wagers across a slew of real-world events, from sports and the Oscars to the weather.
Each tribe will own its app and control the customer-facing part of the business while Kalshi operates the underlying exchange including clearing the trades, Kalshi said Wednesday.
“Prediction markets and tribal economic development don’t have to be at odds,” Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said in a statement. “It can be organized around opportunity.”
Tribal gaming officials – which have thrown their weight behind a trio of lawsuits aiming to cripple Kalshi’s business, claiming it’s siphoning money away from Indian casinos – slammed the partnerships.
“Kalshi is clearly targeting smaller tribes that have limited, if any, options and selling them snake oil,” Jason Giles, executive director of the Indian Gaming Association that represents tribal gaming interests, told The Post in a brief Wednesday interview.
The IGA has warned member tribes against Kalshi’s overtures to offer its wagers on casino floors, concerned that any agreement could amount to an endorsement of Kalshi’s allegedly illegal products – a potential Trojan horse – that could undercut tribes’ ability to fight Kalshi in court down the road.
Last week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Giles said he got wind that Kalshi representatives were taking leaders of small tribes into its suite at the Venetian Hotel to hash out agreements or pitch them on partnership potentials.
Victor Rocha, a member of the powerful Pechanga Band of Indians and conference chairman for the Indian Gaming Association, fumed on social media about the Vegas meetings – posting that Kalshi had sent a “coffee boy” to court new tribal partners and encouraged tribes to no-show.
A Kalshi spokeswoman confirmed the Vegas meetings were formal meet-and-greets to add partnerships with tribes. The company hosted other gaming and financial companies in its Venetian suite, too.
To hammer out agreements with the four tribes announced Wednesday, execs from the New York-based startup flew to California and hosted talks with tribal leaders in numerous cities, a person close to the company said.
“Geography has kept many tribes from sharing in the prosperity that gaming created,” said Chief Wilson Yargee of the Alabama-Quasarrte Tribal Town, a tiny Oklahoma-based tribe with under 400 members. “Prediction markets offer an opportunity to reach beyond those limits and build revenue for our people.”
Wednesday’s announcement also included the Greenville Rancheria, Alturas Indian Rancheria and the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, all in remote areas of California. Of the four tribes, only Alturas operates a casino.
The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana was the first tribe to partner with Kalshi, striking a similar agreement last month — drawing ire from Giles, who said at the time he was “blindsided” by the tribe’s announcement.
Tribal partnerships with Kalshi have become a hot-button issue since prediction markets burst into the mainstream after the 2024 election. The Post detailed last month a series of failed talks between the influential IGA and Kalshi executives including CEO Tarek Mansour that spurred the tribal lawsuits and war of words.
Those talks, which took place in early 2025, ended with Rocha emailing Kalshi head of corporate development Sara Slane: “See you in court.”
Tribes jumping into bed with Kalshi complicate an ongoing contentious legal drama in which other tribes – backed by the deep pockets of Indian gaming – have sued Kalshi in a trio of states for allegedly violating their tribal sovereignty.
While Kalshi says its wagers are financial instruments that it calls “event contracts” and “swaps,” the tribes have sued to stop them, countering that they amount to unauthorized sports gambling under federal Indian gaming laws.
The tribal lawsuits focus on Kalshi’s sports betting offerings, which account for as much as 70% of an estimated $4 billion in revenue during the 12 months ended this July, according to a source close to the company.
Kalshi has called claims by Indian gaming elite that they’re getting bled dry by prediction markets disingenuous – pointing to the $46 billion in gambling revenue that the Indian Gaming Commission raked in last year – a 5.3% bump from the prior year.
Legal experts have told The Post that the suits pose significant risk to Kalshi’s surging business. Last month, the Ninth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals ruled against Kalshi in one tribal suit, setting the stage for a showdown in the Supreme Court that risks crippling the app’s exploding business.