Judge bars Kalshi sports contracts on three tribes' lands

Last updated: 7 Nov 2026, 08:03 CET

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California has granted a preliminary injunction barring Kalshi Inc. and KalshiEX from offering sports contracts on the Indian lands of the tribes suing them. The one-page order, filed on 4 November in Blue Lake Rancheria et al. v. Kalshi Inc. et al. (case 3:25-cv-06162-JSC), applies to those tribal lands. It is not a statewide ban.

The order followed a further status conference held the same day and grants the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction (Dkt. No. 35). It enjoins Kalshi from offering "on the Tribes' Indian lands any sports contracts, including, but not limited to, contracts that facially involve, relate to, or reference" baseball, tennis, pickleball, soccer, basketball, football, golf, chess, esports, hockey, motorsports, boxing, wrestling and Ultimate Fighting Championship events.

What the order requires

The order does not cover Kalshi's non-sports contracts, and it does not address sports contracts offered elsewhere in California.

A preliminary order, not a final ruling

A preliminary injunction is interim relief that applies while the case continues. The one-page order sets out the relief and deadlines but gives no reasons, and it is not a final judgment on the tribes' claims.

The parties and the claim

According to RG, the plaintiffs are Blue Lake Rancheria, Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians and Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, which the court allowed to join in October. RG reports that the tribes allege Kalshi's sports event contracts, when entered from tribal territory, amount to class III gaming offered in violation of their gaming ordinances, and that a Ninth Circuit panel found in September that the tribes were likely to succeed on that claim and returned the case to the district court to weigh the remaining injunction factors.

RG also reports that Kalshi said in an October joint status report that it had geofenced the plaintiff tribes' lands and argued the injunction request was moot, and that the tribes said a member of the Blue Lake Rancheria Gaming Commission later placed a trade on the app while on the reservation. Kalshi operates as a CFTC-regulated exchange.

Updates

• 7 Nov 2026: first published.