A third California tribe joins the case against Kalshi, and the geofence Kalshi built after losing in the Ninth Circuit is now the thing on trial
Most of the prediction market litigation is about whether a state can treat a federally regulated contract as a bet. The tribal case asks a narrower question with a more concrete answer, because the Ninth Circuit has already given it: on Indian land in California, the panel said, a sports event contract is sports gambling, "regardless of whether Kalshi calls them swaps." What remains is enforcement. The October 21 order shows where the fight has moved: away from statutory definitions and toward geolocation, joinder and a second defendant.
What the October 21 order did
Corley granted the tribes' motion to add Buena Vista as a plaintiff after a case management conference, and filed a written order the same day. Kalshi and Robinhood had dropped their opposition after the appeals ruling. The order also clears the procedural ground for a new pleading.
| Date | Step | Source of the date |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 2025 | Blue Lake Rancheria and Chicken Ranch Rancheria sue Kalshi and Robinhood, No. 3:25-cv-06162 | Complaint |
| Nov 2025 | Corley denies a preliminary injunction, finding the trades do not occur on tribal land | District court |
| Sep 16, 2026 | Ninth Circuit, No. 25-7504, reverses in part 3-0: likely class III gaming on Indian lands; Lanham Act claim stays dismissed | Opinion by Judge M. Margaret McKeown |
| Sep 24, 2026 | Kalshi tells the court it has blocked access on three reservations, including Picayune Rancheria | Hearing |
| Oct 14, 2026 | Joint status report: Kalshi says it worked with GeoComply; tribes report a trade from the Blue Lake reservation | Status report |
| Oct 21, 2026 | Buena Vista Rancheria joins; motions to dismiss terminated without prejudice | Order |
| Oct 23, 2026 | Kalshi's proposed date for a supplemental opposition with a sworn affidavit | Kalshi proposal |
| Nov 3, 2026 | Updated joint statement due at noon | Order |
| Nov 4, 2026 | Amended complaint due; case management conference at 2 p.m. | Order |
Terminating the motions to dismiss without prejudice is housekeeping, not a ruling: once a new complaint is filed, Kalshi and Robinhood will move against that version instead. The parties were also told to meet and confer about "a potential stipulation on geofencing, which would remain in effect until further Court order." A stipulation would give the tribes something close to an injunction without the court having to decide the remaining injunction factors, including irreparable harm.
The geofence is now the evidence
Kalshi's response to the September ruling was technical. Lineups reported that it told Corley on September 24 that it had blocked access on the Blue Lake, Chicken Ranch and Picayune reservations, the first time it had voluntarily fenced off tribal land. In the October 14 joint status report Kalshi said the work was done with GeoComply, the location vendor used by most licensed US sportsbooks, and proposed filing a supplemental opposition with a sworn affidavit by October 23.
The tribes answered with a single data point: a member of the Blue Lake Rancheria Gaming Commission, they said, placed a trade on the Kalshi app while on the reservation after the fence was supposed to be in place. Kalshi said the tribes' lawyers had not initially given details of the trade. The tribes asked for a court-ordered process to verify the fencing independently. Their lawyer, Les Marsten, had already argued at the September hearing that geofencing alone does not cure the harm to tribal sovereignty, and told Courthouse News that the companies could have fenced the reservations "at modest cost" from the start.
Robinhood is the next target
Robinhood has been a defendant from the start because it distributes Kalshi's event contracts to its brokerage customers. The amended complaint the tribes now plan to file would go further and allege that Robinhood itself violates the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the tribes' gaming ordinances by offering sports event contracts on their reservations. Robinhood said it expects to oppose the amendment.
That matters beyond this docket. A geofence built by Kalshi covers Kalshi's own app. If the claim against Robinhood survives, each platform that resells the same contracts would need its own fence on each reservation, and each would carry its own liability for gaps. It is the same question Utah raised on October 20 when it named Kalshi's market maker, Susquehanna, as a defendant: who besides the exchange is responsible for a contract once it reaches a user.
Why the Ninth Circuit opinion carries more weight here
The September 16 opinion in Blue Lake Rancheria v. Kalshi, No. 25-7504, was unanimous. Judge McKeown wrote that a wager occurs on Indian lands when a customer enters the contract while physically in tribal territory, even though Kalshi's servers and headquarters are elsewhere. The panel also rejected the argument that the Commodity Exchange Act's exclusive-jurisdiction clause displaces the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, holding it does not "create a roving exemption from every other federal statute that may apply to the same conduct for a different reason." The panel kept the district court's dismissal of the tribes' false-advertising claim over Kalshi's "legal in all 50 states" message, treating it as opinion. Twenty-seven state attorneys general plus the District of Columbia and fifteen other tribes filed as amici for the tribes.
Two features make the ruling harder for Kalshi to work around than the state cases. It is a federal statute against a federal statute, so preemption, Kalshi's main argument everywhere else, does not apply in the same way. And it does not depend on the Supreme Court's decision in New Jersey's petition, No. 26-299, because that case asks whether federal commodities law displaces state gambling law, not tribal gaming law.
What it means for Kalshi in California
Outside the three fenced reservations nothing changes. Sports betting is illegal in California, voters rejected Propositions 26 and 27 in 2022, and no state court or regulator has ordered Kalshi out; our California page tracks that position. What the tribal case adds is a working model: a court-supervised fence around specific land, verified by someone other than the exchange. Kalshi is pursuing the other route at the same time. On October 7 it announced four more tribal partners in Oklahoma and California, without disclosing financial terms. The next fixed date is November 4, when the amended complaint is due and the parties report on a geofencing stipulation.
Method and limits
The October 21 order, the deadlines and the description of the October 14 status report come from RG.org's report of the docket; we have not reviewed the order or the status report directly. The September 24 geofencing statement is from Lineups' report of the hearing. Whether Kalshi filed its supplemental opposition on October 23 was not known at publication. The disputed trade from the Blue Lake reservation is the tribes' allegation and has not been tested in court. Holdings of the Ninth Circuit opinion are taken from published summaries listed below.
Frequently asked questions
What happened in the Kalshi tribal lawsuit on October 21, 2026?
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California let Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians join Blue Lake Rancheria and Chicken Ranch Rancheria as a plaintiff in Blue Lake Rancheria v. Kalshi, No. 3:25-cv-06162. She gave the tribes until November 4 to file an amended complaint, terminated the pending motions to dismiss without prejudice, and set a case management conference for November 4.
Can you use Kalshi on tribal land in California?
Kalshi told the court it has geofenced the plaintiff tribes' reservations with GeoComply after the Ninth Circuit's September 16 ruling. The tribes say a gaming commission member still placed a trade from the Blue Lake reservation and want the fence independently verified. The rest of California is unaffected by this case.
Why is Robinhood in the case?
Robinhood offers Kalshi's sports event contracts to its customers and has been a defendant since the tribes sued in July 2025. The tribes now plan to add claims that Robinhood itself violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and their gaming ordinances. Robinhood said it expects to oppose the amendment.
Does the Ninth Circuit ruling make Kalshi illegal in California?
No court has ordered Kalshi out of California. The September 16 opinion held that sports event contracts entered from tribal land are likely class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which is a ruling about Indian lands. Statewide availability depends on state action and the separate Nevada litigation.
Related
- Is Kalshi legal in California?
- Is Kalshi legal in your state? The 50-state tracker
- Kalshi's tribal partners and the Indian gaming split
- The Ninth Circuit and the nine states it covers
- Odds converter: cent prices, American odds and the vig
Sources
- RG.org, Judge lets Buena Vista Rancheria join tribal suit against Kalshi, 22 October 2026, for the October 21 order, deadlines, the GeoComply statement, the disputed trade, the planned Robinhood claims and the October 7 tribal partnerships.
- Courthouse News Service, Ninth Circuit deals blow to Kalshi on tribal land, 16 September 2026, for the panel, the parties and the Marsten quotations.
- National Law Review, Ninth Circuit holds event contracts are illegal sports betting on tribal lands, 18 September 2026, for the case number, the exclusive-jurisdiction quotation, the Lanham Act holding and the amici.
- Tribal Business News, Ninth Circuit backs tribes in Kalshi sports-betting dispute, 19 September 2026, for the "regardless of whether Kalshi calls them swaps" quotation and where the wager occurs.
- Lineups, Kalshi blocks access on three California tribal lands after Ninth Circuit loss, 28 September 2026, for the September 24 geofencing statement.
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