Four Native American tribes break with casino establishment, team with Kalshi on new gambling apps
Four Native American tribes are splitting from the Indian casino establishment to partner with Kalshi to create new gambling apps – widening a bitter rift as the prediction-markets giant woos tribal leaders in an escalating turf war. Three tribes in California and one in Oklahoma are launching tribal-branded prediction market apps powered by Kalshi, saying the tie-ups would allow them to capture a slice of revenue in the booming business of prediction markets – which offers wagers across a slew of real-world events, from sports and the Oscars to the weather. Each tribe will own its app and control the customer-facing part of the business while Kalshi operates the underlying exchange including clearing the trades, Kalshi said Wednesday. “Prediction markets and tribal economic development don’t have to be at odds,” Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said in a statement.“It can be organized around opportunity.” Tribal gaming officials – which have thrown their weight behind a trio of lawsuits aiming to cripple Kalshi’s business, claiming it’s siphoning money away from Indian casinos – slammed the partnerships. “Kalshi is clearly targeting smaller tribes that have limited, if any, options and selling them snake oil,” Jason Giles, executive director of the Indian Gaming Association that represents tribal gaming interests, told The Post in a brief Wednesday interview. The IGA has warned member tribes against Kalshi’s overtures to offer its wagers on casino floors, concerned that any agreement could amount to an endorsement of Kalshi’s allegedly illegal products – a potential Trojan horse – that could undercut tribes’ ability to fight Kalshi in court down the road. Last week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Giles said he got wind that Kalshi representatives were taking leaders of small tribes into its suite at the Venetian Hotel to hash out agreements or pitch them on partnership potentials. Victor Rocha, a member of the po...