The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana has partnered with prediction-market operator KalshiEX LLC to launch a tribally owned trading venture, putting the tribe at odds with other Native American gaming organizations challenging Kalshi’s sports-event contracts.
The tribe announced the formation of SaltTrade Derivatives, a prediction-market trading app powered by Kalshi’s infrastructure. The platform will allow users to trade event contracts tied to real-world events, including sports and weather, while Kalshi will provide access to its exchange and liquidity pool.
“This partnership represents exactly the type of opportunity Indian Country should be pursuing, where tribes are owners, innovators and leaders, not just participants,” Tunica-Biloxi Chairman Marshall Pierite said in a statement.
Pierite said the venture could provide another revenue source for tribes without major gaming operations or access to lucrative gaming markets. He said he began studying prediction markets as a potential business opportunity eight to nine months ago and approached Kalshi through a mutual contact.
“This is cutting-edge,” Pierite said. “It can create a plethora of opportunities that can change the lives of a lot of tribal citizens.”
Under the partnership, SaltTrade will “plug directly into Kalshi’s existing exchange,” allowing its traders to draw on the same global liquidity pool as other Kalshi participants. The two companies will split revenue from the arrangement.
The venture comes shortly after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a conditional no-action letter covering passive software providers that connect users to regulated derivatives markets.
Kalshi has argued that it operates a federally regulated derivatives platform, with its products classified as “event contracts.”
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said the partnership showed that prediction markets and tribal economic development could coexist.
“Prediction markets and tribal economic development don’t have to be a fight,” Mansour said. “Indian Country should have more paths to economic self-determination, not fewer.”
The partnership contrasts with opposition from other tribal gaming groups. A federal appeals court panel recently blocked Kalshi from offering contracts within the territories of two California tribes that had not authorized prediction markets on their lands.
Representatives from 17 Native American tribes also met with the CFTC last week over concerns that the agency’s rule-making could affect tribal sovereignty and gaming operations.
The California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) criticized Tunica-Biloxi’s decision, saying the tribe was helping legitimize a business model being challenged by other tribal nations and states.
“The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe made a profoundly disappointing decision today,” the organization said in a statement provided to Tribal Business News, adding that “a business deal does not change the law.”
The Indian Gaming Association also criticized the CFTC’s no-action letter, arguing that it undermines the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and tribal-state compacts. IGA Chairman David Bean called for the agency to withdraw the letter and consult with tribal nations.
Bean said the CFTC action “would only benefit crypto wallets, Kalshi and other prediction market companies’ bottom lines.”
He urged the agency to “respect tribal sovereignty, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and hundreds of existing tribal-state compacts – all of which are being violated by the CFTC’s actions.”
Tunica-Biloxi owns and operates Paragon Casino Resort in Marksville, Louisiana, which includes slots, table games and a sportsbook.
Mansour said the debate should not be framed as prediction markets against tribes.
“What’s clear is that regulated national infrastructure and tribal entrepreneurship can develop together — and one does not have to lose for the other to win,” he said.