Utah files 14 criminal counts against Kalshi and its founders; CFTC sues Utah
State prosecutors accuse Kalshi of promoting illegal gambling a day after the CFTC sued Utah in federal court. No court has ruled on the charges, and Kalshi says it will fight them.
· Effective · Verified 2026-10-29 via reputable press (2+ outlets)
Effective Oct 28, 2026: Utah files 14 criminal counts against Kalshi and its founders; CFTC sues Utah. Affects: Kalshi users in Utah, and anyone tracking whether states can restrict CFTC-registered prediction markets. Source: decrypt.co, verified Oct 29, 2026.
Official site: kalshi.com
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown's office filed criminal charges on 28 October 2026 against KalshiEX LLC, chief executive Tarek Mansour and chief operating officer Luana Lopes Lara, accusing them of promoting illegal gambling in the state, according to Decrypt and CoinDesk. The charges came a day after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Utah in federal court to stop the state's enforcement actions against CFTC-registered exchanges.
The 14 counts are one second-degree felony for a pattern of unlawful activity, 12 third-degree felony counts of online gambling promotion and one misdemeanor count of gambling promotion. Prosecutors say an undercover state investigator opened an account as a Utah resident, passed Kalshi's location check and placed 12 sports trades in September. The state did not say what penalties it will seek. Kalshi called the case "a crazy overreach" and said it would fight it in court.
The criminal case adds to a civil suit Utah filed on 20 October 2026, which asks a state court to stop Kalshi offering these contracts to Utah residents. In August a federal judge declined to block Utah from enforcing its gambling laws against Kalshi, and the Tenth Circuit denied Kalshi an injunction in September; Kalshi's appeal is pending.
The CFTC's suit, filed on 27 October in the US District Court for the District of Utah, argues that federal law preempts Utah's gambling laws as applied to CFTC-registered exchanges. It is the agency's tenth suit against a state over prediction markets. Neither case has produced a ruling yet. Utah's position is that trading these contracts from the state is illegal gambling.
On 29 October the CFTC and the Justice Department asked the federal court in Utah for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would stop Utah enforcing its gambling laws against prediction-market event contracts, including the criminal and civil cases already filed against Kalshi, according to Legal Sports Report. The court had not ruled as of 31 October. DraftKings Predictions and FanDuel Predicts have since stopped offering sports contracts in Utah, and Fanatics Markets says it will stop taking trades there on 4 November.
“Utah seeks to shut down prediction markets across a wide variety of markets.”
— CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig, CFTC press release 9315-26
Who this affects
Kalshi users in Utah, and anyone tracking whether states can restrict CFTC-registered prediction markets.
Kalshi at a glance
Kalshi is a US prediction-market exchange regulated by the CFTC as a Designated Contract Market, where users trade event contracts on sports, politics, economics, weather and other outcomes in US dollars. It also offers perpetual futures to approved US users through its FCM, Kalshi Prime.
Official site: kalshi.com
More from the newsroom
Sources
Last checked . Fees and terms change often; the venue's own page wins if it disagrees with ours.
- Decrypt - Utah Files Felony Charges Against Kalshi, Co-Founders Over Sports Bets (2026-10-29) — checked 2026-10-29
- CoinDesk - Utah charges predictions platform Kalshi with illegal gambling (2026-10-29) — checked 2026-10-29
- CFTC - CFTC Sues to Block State Enforcement in Utah Amid Ongoing Efforts to Preserve Jurisdiction (2026-10-27) — checked 2026-10-29
- The Block - CFTC sues Utah as battle over prediction market regulation intensifies (2026-10-27) — checked 2026-10-29
- Utah Attorney General - Utah sues Kalshi (2026-10-20) — checked 2026-10-29
- Legal Sports Report - CFTC Asks Federal Judge to Halt Utah's Criminal Case Against Kalshi (2026-10-30) — checked 2026-10-31
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