Wisconsin Federal Judge Hands Tribes First IGRA Win Against Kalshi Sports Bets

First Federal Court Sides With Tribes successful Kalshi’s Nationwide IGRA Litigation

U.S. District Judge William M. Conley ruled connected Monday that the Ho-Chunk Nation has shown “a likelihood of success” successful its suit accusing Kalshi of violating the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act by offering sports lawsuit contracts connected tribal land, according to Bloomberg’s reporting connected the ruling. The Ho-Chunk Nation, a federally recognized Native American tribe, filed the lawsuit past August successful the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin against Kalshi Inc., KalshiEX LLC, Robinhood Markets Inc., and Robinhood Derivatives LLC.

The bid reverses the ascendant national tribunal signifier from earlier tribal challenges to Kalshi and signals the archetypal national precedent siding with tribes successful the operator’s nationwide IGRA litigation.

In November 2025, US District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley successful the Northern District of California denied a impermanent restraining bid sought by Blue Lake Rancheria, Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, and Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians. Corley held astatine the time that the plaintiffs had “not met their load of showing a likelihood of occurrence connected their IGRA claim,” adding, “The Court does not instrumentality lightly Plaintiffs’ concerns astir the effects Kalshi’s activities mightiness person connected tribal sovereignty and the Tribes’ finances.” That ruling is present connected entreaty astatine the Ninth Circuit.

The Ho-Chunk Nation filed for a preliminary injunction successful December 2025, seeking to barroom Kalshi and Robinhood from offering sports lawsuit contracts to users connected the tribe’s Indian lands for the duration of the lawsuit. Sixteen tribes signed an amicus little supporting the tribal position. The lawsuit docket includes a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act assertion characterizing Kalshi’s sports lawsuit contracts concern arsenic a “Gaming Racket,” on with mendacious advertizing claims. The proceedings is scheduled for May 24, 2027, earlier Conley.

Kalshi has argued passim the Wisconsin litigation that its CFTC-regulated designated declaration marketplace (DCM) presumption preempts the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Company counsel cited the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act’s exemption of DCM-traded contracts from the national explanation of “bet oregon wager,” on with the CFTC’s self-certification process for caller lawsuit contracts nether the Commodity Exchange Act. Those arguments reflector the presumption Kalshi precocious successfully successful earlier prediction-market enforcement cases earlier Judge Corley.

The Wisconsin Ho-Chunk ruling lands alongside a abstracted state-level enforcement push. On April 23, 2026, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed 3 parallel authorities lawsuits successful Dane County Circuit Court naming Kalshi and Robinhood, Polymarket, and Crypto.com (operating arsenic Foris Dax Markets), on with Coinbase arsenic defendants for facilitating sports betting that violates Wisconsin’s Class I felony gambling statute. Kaul stated astatine a virtual property league that “thinly disguising unlawful behaviour doesn’t marque it lawful” and that the companies should beryllium “shut down” from offering sports-related lawsuit contracts to Wisconsin customers. The CFTC subsequently sued Wisconsin, on with 4 different states, for what it characterized arsenic interference with national regulatory authorization implicit derivatives markets.

Kalshi has not yet publically responded to Conley’s Monday ruling astatine the clip of publication. The determination adds to a fragmented national scenery of preliminary rulings connected Kalshi sports lawsuit contracts, with the institution holding a Third Circuit-affirmed injunction successful New Jersey portion losing akin motions successful Maryland and seeing its Nevada injunction dissolved connected review.