Is Kalshi legal in South Dakota?
South Dakota at a glance
| Question | Position as of 18 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Does Kalshi accept South Dakota users? | Yes, with no state-specific restriction reported |
| Has South Dakota issued a cease-and-desist? | No publicly reported order |
| Is South Dakota in the Kalshi litigation? | As a signatory only: on the 41-AG CFTC comment of 30 April 2026 and the 39-state Supreme Court brief of 7 October 2026; not a party to any case |
| Pending legislation | None; SJR 504, the online sports betting amendment, died in House State Affairs on 25 February 2026; the legislature returns in January 2027 |
| Legal sportsbooks | Retail only, at Deadwood's licensed casinos and at tribal casinos under compact; no state-licensed online sportsbook |
| Regulator | South Dakota Commission on Gaming (Deadwood and compact oversight); Attorney General's office for enforcement |
| Minimum betting age | 21 at sportsbooks; Kalshi accepts 18 |
| Tax on sports betting | Deadwood gaming tax of 9 percent on adjusted gross revenue; tribal books are not state-taxed |
| Federal circuit | Eighth Circuit; no ruling; Minnesota ban enjoined at district court 27 July 2026; Novig and Crypto.com suits filed against Missouri 16 October 2026 |
A sportsbook industry you have to drive to
South Dakota's gambling law is written around one town. Constitutional Amendment B, approved by 58.5 percent of voters in November 2020, authorised sports wagering only within the city limits of Deadwood, the Black Hills gaming town whose casinos have operated under a constitutional carve-out since 1989. The Commission on Gaming licensed the first books in 2021, and the compacts that let nine tribal governments run casinos on reservation land extend the same right to them. Everything else is prohibited: there is no statewide mobile app, no remote registration, and a bettor in Sioux Falls, 360 miles from Deadwood, has no legal way to bet on a game without driving to a casino. The minimum age is 21. The Deadwood Gaming Association told KELO in September 2026 that the town's seven sportsbook locations had taken more than $41 million in wagers in five years, that participation rose 17 percent in 2025, and that March Madness is the biggest period of the year. Those are small numbers. Iowa's online books take more than that in a week, which is where the association says South Dakotans' money goes.
The legislature's answer has been a constitutional amendment to allow mobile betting routed through Deadwood servers, and the 2026 version got further than any before it. SJR 504 passed the Senate 23 to 10 on 11 February 2026. Its sponsors, Representative Greg Jamison and Senator Steve Kolbeck, put the tax at up to $5 million a year and earmarked 90 percent of it for property tax relief; GeoComply told the committee it had logged 1.6 million geolocation checks from 55,000 South Dakota accounts trying to reach legal sportsbooks in other states. On 25 February the House State Affairs Committee voted 7 to 6 against advancing it, then 11 to 2 to defer it past the last day of the session. The chair, Representative Scott Odenbach, said he was "all for destination gambling in Deadwood" and did not want people betting from the couch; the Oglala Sioux Tribe's president opposed the measure unless tribes could offer online betting too. There is no sports betting question on the 3 November 2026 ballot, and the earliest an amendment could now reach voters is November 2028.
The Deadwood association's argument for the amendment was, in part, Kalshi. Its president, Caleb Arceneaux, told the committee that sports gambling already happens in South Dakota through offshore sites and prediction markets with none of the consumer protections licensed casinos must follow, and its executive director, George Milos, had called prediction markets "a complete overreach" in January, listing the age checks, anti-money-laundering controls, self-exclusion and geolocation that Deadwood books must run and the exchanges do not. The association's September figures came with the same point: the apps let 18-to-20-year-olds trade on games a Deadwood book cannot take their money on. That is the complaint that produced letters in Ohio, Missouri and Louisiana. In South Dakota it has produced a lobbying position and nothing else.
What the attorney general has signed, and what he has not sent
Marty Jackley's office has been on every multistate document against prediction markets this year. South Dakota signed the comment letter that 41 attorneys general sent the CFTC on 30 April 2026, which argued that "any distinction between sportsbook bets and prediction-market bets is illusory," and it signed the amicus brief Ohio's solicitor general filed for 39 states and the District of Columbia in Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299, on 7 October 2026, asking the Supreme Court to take New Jersey's case. Neighbouring North Dakota skipped both; Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa signed both. On paper, then, South Dakota's position is that Kalshi's sports contracts are gambling that the state may regulate.
What the office has not done is act on that position. There is no cease-and-desist letter to Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood or anyone else, no civil enforcement suit in state or federal court, no criminal referral and no public statement by the attorney general himself on prediction markets that we could find. The Commission on Gaming's published business is Deadwood licensing, compact compliance and the state's video lottery, and it has not asserted jurisdiction over event contracts. South Dakota is therefore in the largest group of states: it has joined the coalition and left enforcement to others. Of the 22 states counted as having taken formal action in our enforcement index, none is South Dakota, and nothing in the state's record suggests that will change before the Supreme Court or the Eighth Circuit speaks.
The Eighth Circuit, where the action now is
South Dakota's federal appeals court is the Eighth Circuit, shared with Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Arkansas. It has not ruled on whether sports event contracts are swaps or whether the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling law. Until this week its only prediction market decision was at district level: Judge Menendez's order of 27 July 2026 in the District of Minnesota, which enjoined the state's felony ban against CFTC-designated contract markets on the finding that the United States, Kalshi and Polymarket US were likely to succeed on their preemption claims. On 16 October 2026 two more cases arrived. Novig sued Missouri's attorney general and gaming commissioners in the Eastern District of Missouri, and Crypto.com's exchange, operating as OG.com, sued the same officials in the Western District, both after Missouri's 30-day cease-and-desist window and both arguing their contracts are swaps under exclusive CFTC jurisdiction. Whichever way those district judges rule, the appeal goes to St. Louis, and the Eighth Circuit will then have the question South Dakota has never asked.
Outside the circuit the law is split. The Third Circuit ruled for Kalshi against New Jersey in April; the Ninth ruled for Nevada in August and for two California tribes in September; the Sixth ruled for Ohio and Tennessee on 25 September. New Jersey's Supreme Court petition is pending, with Kalshi's response due 9 November 2026, and if the Court takes the case its decision will bind South Dakota along with every other state. If it does not, South Dakota sits in a circuit whose only precedent is a district court win for the platforms and whose first appellate ruling will be shaped by Missouri's facts, not its own.
What this means in practice
A South Dakota resident can open a Kalshi account at 18 and trade sports, economic and political contracts; the same person cannot legally bet on a game until 21 and only inside a Deadwood or tribal casino. The first fact could change if the Supreme Court rules for New Jersey, if the Eighth Circuit sides with Missouri in the Novig or OG.com appeals, or if Jackley decides the state's signature on two national filings should be followed by a letter of his own. Kalshi has geofenced states after orders were issued, so present access is not a guarantee of continued access. Every dated action is in the prediction market change log, and the current map is in the Kalshi legality tracker.
For the neighbour that took the opposite path and joined nothing, see North Dakota; for the circuit's one ruling, see Minnesota; for the state whose suits will set the Eighth Circuit precedent, see Missouri. For how the two products differ in cost, see sportsbooks versus prediction markets. This page describes the regulatory position. It is not legal advice and not a recommendation to trade or wager anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kalshi legal in South Dakota?
Kalshi operates in South Dakota and no publicly reported South Dakota cease-and-desist order, lawsuit or regulatory finding targets it as of 18 October 2026. The state has signed two multistate filings arguing that sports event contracts are gambling, but has taken no action of its own. South Dakota sits in the Eighth Circuit, which has not ruled on the question. That is the practical position, not a ruling by any South Dakota court.
Has South Dakota taken any official position on prediction markets?
Only as a signatory. Attorney General Marty Jackley joined the 41-attorney-general comment to the CFTC of 30 April 2026 and the brief Ohio filed for 39 states and the District of Columbia at the Supreme Court on 7 October 2026. The office has sent no letter to Kalshi and filed no suit.
Is sports betting legal in South Dakota?
Only in person. Constitutional Amendment B of November 2020 allows sports wagering at licensed casinos in Deadwood, and tribal casinos may offer it under their compacts. There is no mobile or online sportsbook; SJR 504, which would have put online betting to voters, died in the House State Affairs Committee on 25 February 2026. The minimum age is 21.
Who regulates gambling in South Dakota?
The South Dakota Commission on Gaming licenses and regulates Deadwood's casinos and sportsbooks and oversees tribal compacts; the South Dakota Lottery runs the lottery and video lottery; the Attorney General's office handles enforcement. No state body has asserted jurisdiction over event contracts.
Which federal circuit covers South Dakota, and has it ruled?
The Eighth Circuit, which also covers Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Arkansas. It has not ruled on prediction markets. A Minnesota federal judge enjoined that state's felony ban on 27 July 2026, and on 16 October 2026 Novig and Crypto.com's exchange sued Missouri in two federal districts inside the circuit. Until a panel decides, there is no binding precedent for South Dakota either way.
Related
- Is Kalshi legal in North Dakota? No letter, no suit
- Is Kalshi legal in Missouri?
- Is Kalshi legal in Minnesota? The ban that never started
- Is Kalshi legal in your state? The 50-state tracker
- Parlay calculator
Sources
- South Dakota Commission on Gaming, Gaming, for Deadwood licensing, the compacts and the 9 percent gaming tax.
- iGaming Business, South Dakota online sports betting rejected in House, but not for good, 25 February 2026, for the SJR 504 votes, sponsors and testimony.
- SBC Americas, South Dakota Senate passes bill to put online sports betting on ballot, 12 February 2026, for the 23-10 Senate vote.
- KELOLAND via Yahoo Sports, Deadwood sports betting tops $41 million, 17 September 2026, for the handle, seven locations and the 17 percent figure.
- iGaming Today, Deadwood draws a line as prediction markets push into South Dakota, 9 January 2026, for the Deadwood Gaming Association statements.
- Maryland Attorney General, Prediction markets comment letter to the CFTC, 30 April 2026, for the 41 signatories including South Dakota.
- Supreme Court of the United States, Brief of Ohio and 38 other states and the District of Columbia as amici curiae, No. 26-299, October 2026, for the signatories including South Dakota.
- U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, Order granting preliminary injunctions, 27 July 2026, for the Eighth Circuit district ruling.
- Covers, Novig, Crypto.com sue Missouri after cease-and-desist order, 16 October 2026, for the two Missouri suits.
18+ only. Prediction market contracts and sports wagering carry real financial risk. This page is analysis, not legal, financial or betting advice. If gambling stops being fun, help is available at 1-800-GAMBLER.