Four Native American tribes have partnered with prediction market operator Kalshi to launch tribal-branded apps, expanding the company’s ties with Indigenous communities despite opposition from established tribal gaming organizations.
The Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, Greenville Rancheria and Alturas Indian Rancheria in California, along with Oklahoma’s Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, announced the partnerships on Wednesday. They follow the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, which struck a similar agreement with Kalshi last month.
Under the arrangements, each tribe will own its app and control the customer-facing business, while Kalshi operates the underlying exchange and handles trade execution and clearing.
The partnerships have exposed divisions within Native American communities, with some tribes viewing prediction markets as an opportunity to generate revenue while others argue that the platforms threaten tribal gaming rights and casino income.
“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.”
Eric Wright, administrator of the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, said the partnership could help the tribe address economic needs, including funding water infrastructure projects in its isolated northern California community.
“At its core, this is about tribal sovereignty and economic self-determination. Other tribes are entitled to disagree with our decision, but they don’t have veto power over our economic future,” Wright said.
Chief Wilson Yargee of the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town said prediction markets could help smaller tribes overcome geographic and economic limitations.
“Geography has kept many tribes from sharing in the prosperity that gaming created,” Yargee said. “Prediction markets offer an opportunity to reach beyond those limits and build revenue for our people.”
Only Alturas Indian Rancheria operates a casino among the four newly announced partners.
The Indian Gaming Association (IGA), which represents tribal gaming interests, has criticized Kalshi’s efforts to recruit smaller tribes. The organization has warned that partnerships could be interpreted as an endorsement of products it alleges are illegal, potentially undermining tribal efforts to challenge the company in court.
“Kalshi is clearly targeting smaller tribes that have limited, if any, options and selling them snake oil,” IGA Executive Director Jason Giles told the New York Post.
The dispute follows unsuccessful discussions between Kalshi executives and tribal gaming representatives in early 2025. Those talks ended with Victor Rocha, conference chairman of the IGA, emailing Kalshi’s head of corporate development, Sara Slane: “See you in court.”
Kalshi confirmed that meetings with tribal leaders at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas last week were formal discussions about potential partnerships.
The debate reflects broader concerns that prediction markets could compete with tribal casinos, which help fund public services, infrastructure, healthcare and education.
Tribal gaming generated a record $46.2 billion in gross revenue in 2025. Around 56% of that revenue came from the most powerful 9% of tribal gaming facilities.
Rebecca George, head of the Washington Indian Gaming Association, said casino revenues remained critical to communities still lacking basic infrastructure.
“In Indian country, we’re still fighting for basic infrastructure,” George said. “Kalshi’s co-owners just became billionaires. And we know this is coming off of the backs of the tribes. So, it’s hard not to take personally.”
Tribal leaders interviewed by CNN did not provide data demonstrating that prediction markets had already reduced casino revenues, but expressed concern about future competition for gambling expenditure. Sports-related contracts account for more than 80% of trading volume in the broader prediction market industry.
The legal dispute centers on whether sports event contracts constitute gambling subject to tribal and state gaming laws or financial instruments regulated at the federal level.
Kalshi describes its products as “event contracts” and “swaps” overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Tribal gaming groups argue that the contracts amount to unauthorized sports gambling and infringe on rights protected by federal Indian gaming laws.
Two California tribes recently won a federal appeals court ruling against Kalshi and Robinhood over sports contracts on tribal land. A Wisconsin federal judge, however, previously declined to shut down Kalshi within the Ho-Chunk Nation’s territory, finding that the tribe had provided little evidence that its casinos were losing customers to the platform.
The CFTC’s approach has also drawn criticism from tribal representatives, who argue that federal oversight bypasses decades of work establishing tribal gaming regulation.