Cayuga Nation Sues Caesars Over Reservation Betting, Cites Kalshi Ruling

New York’s Cayuga Nation has sued Caesars Sportsbook in federal court, alleging the operator illegally accepted mobile sports wagers from within the tribe’s reservation in New York in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).

While the lawsuit targets Caesars’ sportsbook operations, the complaint repeatedly invokes arguments that have emerged in tribal challenges to prediction markets. Those include a citation to the recent Ho-Chunk Nation v. Kalshi ruling in Wisconsin.

The filing also incorporates arguments that have featured prominently in recent disputes involving prediction markets and tribal gaming rights.

Cayuga Nation Alleges Caesars Accepted Bets on Reservation Land

According to the complaint filed June 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Caesars accepted sports wagers from users physically located within the Cayuga Nation’s 64,015-acre reservation between January 2022 and July 2025.

The tribe argues that, under IGRA, Class III gaming on tribal lands may be conducted only pursuant to an approved tribal-state compact. Currently, the tribe has not entered into such a compact.

As a result, the tribe argues that no entity, including Caesars, may legally offer sports betting within reservation boundaries.

According to the filing, the tribe sent Caesars a cease-and-desist letter in June 2025. In July 2025, Caesars agreed to geofence its operations from the reservation.

In September 2025, the Nation requested that the operator provide an accounting of all wagers accepted and the revenue generated from all gaming activity on the reservation. Caesars later declined to comply.

The lawsuit seeks declaratory relief, damages, disgorgement of profits, and an accounting of all revenue derived from the alleged unauthorized gaming activity.

In a press release announcing the lawsuit, Cayuga Nation representative Clint Halftown said Caesars had “illegally encroached on our sovereign rights” by operating within the reservation without authorization.

The lawsuit follows a broader effort by the Cayuga Nation to restrict mobile sports betting within reservation boundaries. In 2025, Nation attorney David Burch told the Auburn Citizen that multiple mobile sportsbooks, such as FanDuel and DraftKings, voluntarily geofenced the reservation after being contacted by tribal officials.

The Nation has also pursued similar arguments against New York. Last year, a federal judge allowed the Cayuga Nation’s lawsuit against the New York State Gaming Commission to proceed after the Nation alleged the state was conducting unauthorized Class III gaming on reservation land through lottery operations without a tribal-state compact.

Complaint Echoes Tribal Arguments Against Prediction Markets

Although the lawsuit targets sportsbook operations, portions of the complaint mirror arguments other tribes have advanced against prediction market platforms.

One section of the filing states:

Currently, 18-year-old high school students across the United States, including some that are located on Indian reservations, are on their phones placing bets on the outcome of virtually every sporting event occurring across the globe, without any regulation of that betting by states or Indian tribes…”

The language is notable because New York mobile sportsbooks, including Caesars, require customers to be at least 21 years old. That makes the reference to 18-year-old bettors somewhat unusual in a lawsuit centered on sportsbook operations.

Prediction market platforms, by contrast, permit participation by users 18 and older.

The complaint also argues that the activity occurs without state or tribal regulation. The argument mirrors criticism that tribal gaming interests have increasingly raised in disputes over sports-event contracts offered by prediction markets.

Tribe Relies on Ho-Chunk v. Kalshi

The complaint explicitly cites Ho-Chunk Nation v. Kalshi, a Wisconsin federal case involving tribal challenges to Kalshi’s sports-related event contracts. In May, a federal judge allowed the Ho-Chunk Nation’s IGRA claims against Kalshi to proceed.

According to the filing, IGRA provides tribes with “an enforcement mechanism to prevent gaming from being conducted on Indian lands that is not authorized by a Tribal-State compact.”

By relying on the Ho-Chunk decision, the Cayuga Nation appears to be reinforcing a broader legal theory that tribes may use IGRA to challenge gaming activity conducted on tribal lands without tribal authorization.

The lawsuit does not name Kalshi or any prediction market operator as a defendant.

However, its discussion of 18-year-old bettors, wagering conducted outside state and tribal oversight, and reliance on the Ho-Chunk ruling, suggests the Nation views the Caesars dispute within the broader debate over gaming activity conducted on tribal lands. That includes ongoing disputes involving prediction markets.

Complaint Also Includes False-Advertising Claim

Beyond its IGRA claims, the Cayuga Nation also asserts a false-advertising claim under the Lanham Act.

The tribe alleges that Caesars misled bettors by promoting its sportsbook as legally available throughout New York. The operator, however, failed to disclose that mobile sports betting is not lawfully available on the Cayuga reservation.

According to the complaint, Caesars’ advertising created the misleading impression that its sportsbook was legally available “everywhere within the State, without geographic restriction.”

The Nation is seeking damages, disgorgement of profits, and other relief under the Lanham Act in addition to its claims under IGRA.