Ninth Circuit blocks Kalshi sports contracts on two California tribal lands
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit blocked Kalshi from offering sports event contracts on the lands of two California tribes. The panel ruled Wednesday that the tribes are likely to prove Kalshi violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Robinhood, which intervened in the case, said it would lose substantial business if the tribes prevailed. The court reversed a district court ruling that had denied the tribes' preliminary injunction.
The Ninth Circuit has now rejected Kalshi's federal preemption theory twice in one month, after the Nevada ruling. Each new loss invites more tribal suits. Kalshi must geofence two additional jurisdictions while lower courts reconsider the merits. Robinhood faces identical exposure because the same reasoning reaches any platform offering sports-linked contracts on tribal lands.
Traders hold positions whose validity shifts with geography, not regulation. The Supreme Court remains Kalshi's only path to uniform rules. Legal spend compounds across parallel cases faster than any single resolution. Every month of delay risks another tribe filing through the opening.