Oklahoma tribal town town sues Kalshi amid prediction market contract dispute

OKLAHOMA CITY — A small Oklahoma tribe is suing one of the nation’s largest prediction market companies in an effort to invalidate a business agreement that they claim was not authorized by its governing committee.

The Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town and Samuel Marshall Jr., who claims he is the rightful chief of the tribe of about 400, sued Kalshi, its CEO Tarek Mansour, Wilson Yargee, and Michael Stopp to block a potentially lucrative agreement that allows the tribe to develop and operate a prediction market app, known as PokkeTrades. Prediction markets allow people to wager on pretty much everything from the outcome of sporting events to political races to the weather.

The lawsuit asks a tribal judge to declare that the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town is not bound to any agreement for PokkeTrades and that Yargee, who claims he’s the legitimate chief, and his administration have no authority to authorize it. 

The tribe and Marshall wrote in its lawsuit filed in Muscogee (Creek) Nation District Court that Yargee and Stopp did not have permission from the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town’s governing committee to enter into the agreement with Kalshi. 

The lawsuit alleges Marshall is the legitimate chief, not Yargee. Yargee was removed from office in 2021 and has been falsely representing himself as the chief of the tribal town based about 90 miles southeast of Oklahoma City in Wetumka, the lawsuit alleges.

Oklahoma tribal leadership fight puts Kalshi’s prediction markets at center of dispute

It also alleges that the tribe’s governing body never ratified the agreement Yargee entered into with Kalshi, making it invalid.

Yargee’s agreement with Kalshi has forced Marshall and town officials to spend time and money correcting the record, disrupted business relationships, “damaged its commercial goodwill” and created confusion about town leadership, according to the complaint. The tribe is seeking a temporary restraining order, compensation for damages and correction of Yargee’s claims, among other requests. 

The tribe’s lawsuit also draws on an 1825 law from the Creek Nation that prohibited “bad talk” against the chief. Marshall requests that the court recognize this as a “civil Bad Talk claim” against the defendants who misrepresented their roles, therefore injuring the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town and chief. 

The Alabama Quassarte Tribal Town’s enrolled members hold dual citizenship at the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The tribe was one of several tribal towns part of what was previously known as the Muscogee Nation Confederacy. 

Yargee though claims he is the rightful chief of the tribe. He previously told Oklahoma Voice that as chief, he had the right to enter into the agreement. 

Tribal election results were not immediately publicly available, but both Marshall and Yargee claim to have won reelection in 2025, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs lists both men as chief.

Kalshi, who promoted the gaming partnership with the tribe last month as one of its first partnerships with Native American tribes, stands by its agreement, said Jacki McGavick, a Kalshi spokesperson, on behalf of the company and Mansour.

She said the tribe’s governing council signed off on the agreement.

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Stopp, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who serves as Yargee’s vice president of economic development, said in a statement on behalf of himself and Yargee that this is just the latest lawsuit filed by Marshall’s administration. 

Stopp said he and Yargee expect the court to dismiss the case as it has dismissed previous cases brought by Marshall’s administration. 

A previous lawsuit filed in this court between Marshall and Yargee over rightful leadership was dismissed over a lack of jurisdiction because both parties failed to waive their right to sovereign immunity, which protects recognized tribes from federal, state and tribal lawsuits without their explicit consent. Marshall has waived his and the town’s sovereign immunity for this lawsuit. 

“It would be helpful for a court competent jurisdiction to stop the Marshall faction from continuing to make these claims,” Stopp said. 

He said that if the court doesn’t immediately throw out the case, they will reevaluate their legal strategy which could include a waiver of sovereign immunity.