Utah Attorney General announces lawsuit against sports betting platform Kalshi

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Attorney General Derek Brown announced Tuesday morning that his office had filed a lawsuit against Kalshi, an online sports betting platform.

The complaint was filed in 3rd District Court, asking for all Kalshi enterprises to stop their "illegal conduct" of operating sports betting in Utah and compensate the state for alleged harm done to its citizens.

Kalshi is a popular online sports betting platform that allows users to also bet on real-world events. The company describes itself as a "prediction market," but "in reality, the Kalshi Enterprise is a gambling company," the attorney general's lawsuit states.

"From a user's perspective, Kalshi's online gambling bets are indistinguishable from the bets offered by a traditional sportsbook," the suit states. "The State of Utah is a sovereign state that is suffering and will continue suffering both imminent and substantial sovereign harms and financial injury directly traceable to (Kalshi)'s illegal gambling activities."

The Utah Constitution prohibits the legislature from authorizing "any game of chance, lottery, or gift enterprise under any pretense or for any purpose."

"Although Defendants are well aware that sports bets and other forms of gambling bets are illegal under Utah law, (Kalshi) chose to begin offering gambling bets to Utah's residents by at least September 2024, something they continue doing despite a recent federal court order rejecting KalshiEx's argument that it is not bound by Utah law."

Kalshi has used the marketing taglines of "The First Nationwide Legal Sports Betting Platform" and "Sports Betting Legal in All 50 States on Kalshi," the complaint said.

The lawsuit claims that Kalshi's "brazen pattern of unlawful conduct" has caused "substantial ongoing harm" to Utah residents and businesses.

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