Utah charges Kalshi and its co-founders in gambling law dispute
The criminal case follows an August federal ruling allowing Utah to enforce its gambling laws against prediction markets. Kalshi says it will fight the charges.
Utah filed criminal charges against prediction market operator Kalshi and its co-founders, chief executive Tarek Mansour and chief operating officer Luana Lopes Lara, in a Salt Lake City district court on October 28, Al Jazeera reported. The state alleges that they illegally promoted online gambling, escalating a dispute over whether Utah can apply its gambling laws to the federally registered company.
Al Jazeera reported that the complaint lists 12 counts of online gambling promotion, one count of general gambling promotion and one count of a pattern of unlawful activity. An Associated Press report published by The Guardian described the charges as 13 counts involving Utah’s gambling prohibition and one involving profiting from illegal activity. Those descriptions have not been checked against the charging document, which was not retrieved.
Why Utah says its gambling laws apply
The filing follows an August federal court ruling that Utah could enforce its gambling laws against prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, both reports said. Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said Kalshi had continued operating in the state despite that ruling, according to the Associated Press report.
‘Gambling is illegal in Utah, whether you place the bet, run the game, or promote it,’ Brown said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press. He argued that calling the activity a prediction market and holding federal registration did not exempt Kalshi from state law. His position is the state’s allegation, not a finding of guilt in this criminal case.
Kalshi’s response and the wider regulatory dispute
Kalshi called the charges a ‘crazy overreach’ and said Utah was ‘clearly playing politics,’ according to the Associated Press. The company said it would challenge the case in court, pointing to a previous dispute in Arizona. Kalshi maintains that prediction markets fall exclusively under federal jurisdiction, rather than state gambling laws.
The Associated Press reported that litigation over the reach of state gambling rules has spread across roughly 20 states. Utah’s criminal charges add potential personal consequences for the two executives to that broader fight: the felony counts carry the possibility of jail time. The attorney general’s office had not immediately specified what penalties it would seek.
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Sources and context
- Kalshi, co-founders hit with criminal charges in US state of UtahAl Jazeera
- Utah files criminal charges against prediction market Kalshi and company co-foundersAssociated Press, republished by The Guardian
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.