Utah Takes Kalshi's Founders to Court With Criminal Charges

The state of Utah has filed criminal charges against prediction market company Kalshi and its founders. Prosecutors name CEO Tarek Mansour and COO Luana Lopes Lara as defendants. The charges include one count of organized activity, twelve counts of online gambling promotion, and one count of general gambling promotion.

According to the filing, an undercover investigator opened an account using a local address and a bank card and placed 12 bets totaling about $115 on NFL, college football, MLB, MLS, and NHL games between September 13 and September 26. Prosecutors allege that the company collected commissions on these bets while knowing the user was in Utah.

Prosecutors say the two founders continued to offer bets to people in Utah even after a federal judge ruled in Utah's favor in August and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request to pause that ruling. The civil lawsuit the state filed last week also addresses this conduct.

There is also federal activity. On October 26, the CFTC and the Crypto.com exchange each filed separate lawsuits challenging Utah's authority. In Kalshi's pending appeal, many parties have filed briefs, including 37 states, Washington D.C., and the American Gaming Association.

Utah is the second state, after Arizona, to bring criminal charges against Kalshi. Meanwhile, a new study from Rutgers University raises concerns about gambling participation among young people and troubling trends in the risk of problem gambling.