Utah criminally charges Kalshi with promoting illegal gambling

The state of Utah has filed 14 criminal charges, including 13 felony counts, against the prediction market site Kalshi and its co-founders, Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, alleging the company has broken Utah law by promoting online gambling.

The charging documents, posted on the Utah Attorney General’s website Wednesday afternoon, outline how an agent with the Attorney General’s office opened an undercover account on Kalshi with a Utah residential address and phone number and a locally issued debit card.

The charging documents note that Kalshi asked the agent to “confirm his location using location services” in the state of Utah before he was allowed to place the wager, and that he operated in both Salt Lake and Davis counties.

From there, the agent placed 12 “wagers” on sporting events on Kalshi’s website, in total risking $114.87, and losing $25.10. The agent went six-for-12, with “wagers” that predicted:

• The New York Giants would beat the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 13. (The Cowboys won.)
• The Utah Utes would win by more than 27.5 points vs. the Utah State Aggies on Sept. 19. (Utah won by 36.)
• Both Real Salt Lake and the Vancouver Whitecaps would score on Sept. 19. (RSL didn’t score.)
• The Philadelphia Eagles vs. Tennessee Titans would be tied after the first quarter on Sept. 20. (They were not.)
• Over 7.5 points would be scored in the fourth quarter of that Eagles vs. Titans game. (The teams scored 10 points in the quarter.)
• The total score of the Eagles vs. Titans game would be over 39.5 points. (The teams combined for 44 points.)
• The Milwaukee Brewers would not win by more than 1.5 runs to the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 20. (The Brewers won by 3.)
• The Indianapolis Colts would beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 20. (The Chiefs won.)
• Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. would gain more than 200 passing yards vs. the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 24. (He had 256 yards.)
• In the same game, Falcons running back Bijan Robinson would gain more than 50 rushing yards vs. the Packers. (He had 194 yards.)
• The Troy Trojans would beat Utah State on Sept. 26. (Utah State won.)
• The Utah Mammoth would defeat the Colorado Avalanche on Sept. 26. (The Mammoth won.)

For each bet, Kalshi received an Online Gambling Promotion charge, a third-degree felony in Utah. Kalshi was also hit with a second-degree felony charge of Pattern of Unlawful Activity, and a General Gambling Promotion charge, a class A misdemeanor.

The state did not issue arrest warrants for Monsour and Lopes Lara. Instead, they have been issued summons to respond to the charges in Third District Court in Salt Lake County.

The criminal charges come as battles in state and federal court already see Utah and Kalshi at odds. Attorney General Derek Brown and Gov. Spencer Cox have previously asserted that prediction markets like Kalshi’s constitute illegal gambling, saying Kalshi has acted as “the manager of a back-alley gambling den.”

Meanwhile, the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed suit against Utah on Tuesday, telling the state to stop its civil lawsuit against Kalshi and stop investigating the site altogether. The CFTC invoked the Supremacy Clause, asserting that it as a federal agency possesses regulatory authority over Kalshi and prediction markets like it, superseding state-by-state gambling laws.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2026/10/28/utah-files-14-criminal-charges/