The Cayuga Nation has initiated legal proceedings against Caesars Sportsbook in a federal court, claiming that the sportsbook operator unlawfully accepted mobile sports bets from within the boundaries of the tribe's reservation in New York. This action allegedly breaches the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
This lawsuit not only focuses on Caesars' sportsbook operations but also references recent legal precedents, particularly the Ho-Chunk Nation v. Kalshi case in Wisconsin, which has influenced tribal challenges to prediction markets.
According to the lawsuit filed on June 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Caesars is accused of accepting sports wagers from individuals located on the Cayuga Nation's 64,015-acre reservation between January 2022 and July 2025.
The Cayuga Nation contends that under IGRA, Class III gaming on tribal lands can only occur under an approved tribal-state compact, which they currently lack. Therefore, they argue that no entity, including Caesars, has the legal right to offer sports betting within the reservation.
The tribe had previously issued a cease-and-desist letter to Caesars in June 2025, and by July 2025, Caesars agreed to restrict its operations to exclude the reservation area.
In September 2025, the Cayuga Nation requested a detailed account of all wagers placed and the revenue generated from gaming activities on their land, a request that Caesars later declined to fulfill.
The lawsuit seeks various forms of relief, including damages, the return of profits, and a comprehensive accounting of revenues from the alleged unauthorized gaming activities.
Cayuga Nation representative Clint Halftown stated that Caesars had “illegally encroached on our sovereign rights” by operating within their reservation without proper authorization.
This legal action is part of a larger initiative by the Cayuga Nation to limit mobile sports betting within their reservation. In 2025, Nation attorney David Burch informed the Auburn Citizen that several mobile sportsbooks, including FanDuel and DraftKings, had voluntarily geofenced their operations after being contacted by tribal officials.
The Cayuga Nation has also pursued similar claims against New York State. A federal judge recently permitted their lawsuit against the New York State Gaming Commission to move forward, alleging that the state was conducting unauthorized Class III gaming on reservation land through lottery operations without an established tribal-state compact.
Interestingly, while the lawsuit primarily addresses sportsbook operations, it also echoes arguments made by other tribes against prediction market platforms. One section of the complaint highlights that 18-year-old high school students across the U.S., including those on Indian reservations, are placing bets on various sporting events without any state or tribal regulation. This is particularly striking since New York mobile sportsbooks, including Caesars, require bettors to be at least 21 years old.