Caesars Moves to Toss Cayuga Nation Lawsuit Over Sports Bets on Tribal Land

Caesars Sportsbook is asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit brought by New York’s Cayuga Nation over mobile sports bets allegedly placed from tribal lands.

The Cayuga Nation sued Caesars in June, claiming the sportsbook accepted wagers from people physically located within its reservation between January 2022 and July 2025 without tribal approval or a gaming compact.

The Nation is seeking the return of revenues Caesars allegedly earned from bets made on its reservation, lost profits, and other damages.

This was the first known case of a tribe suing a state-licensed sportsbook over online bets allegedly placed from Indian lands, according to gaming attorney Daniel Wallach.

Sovereign Rights

The tribe argues the bets were illegal because sports betting is considered Class III gaming under federal law and generally cannot take place on tribal land without an agreement between the tribe and the state.

Cayuga, which operates Class II gaming in New York under its LakeSide Entertainment brand, has no such agreement, having never been able to reach a Class III gaming compact with the state.

The tribe argues that means no sportsbook — state-licensed or otherwise — can legally take mobile sports bets from within the reservation unless the Nation has authorized it.

In its August 17 motion to dismiss, Caesars argues federal tribal gaming law does not give Cayuga the right to bring this kind of claim against a private sportsbook.

Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribes can sue over certain violations of agreements covering casino gambling on tribal land. But because Cayuga has no Class III gaming compact with New York, Caesars argues there is no agreement for it to have breached.

Take It Up With New York

Moreover, Caesars says state regulators told mobile operators that an online wager would be treated as taking place where the sportsbook’s servers were located, not where the bettor happened to be standing.

Those servers were not on tribal land.

The operator says it was playing by the rules laid down by New York when it accepted the disputed wagers.

Caesars stopped taking wagers from within the Cayuga reservation after receiving a cease-and-desist demand in 2025 and placed a digital geofence around the area.

But it refused Cayuga’s later demand for records showing how much had been wagered there and how much Caesars made from those bets.

Cayuga’s response to the motion is due September 22. Caesars can reply by September 29.

Cayuga is also fighting a separate case against New York gaming officials over lottery sales and the Jackpocket app on reservation land.