Judge lets Utah enforce state anti-gambling laws on Kalshi

U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby this week permitted Utah to enforce its anti-gambling laws against online betting market Kalshi.

Betting sites like Kalshi and Polymarket, sometimes called prediction markets, have increasingly gained traction in recent years.

Utah bans gambling under its state constitution. Kalshi had argued that betting markets fell under the purview of federal authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and, therefore, federal law preempted the state ban.

Shelby cited longstanding federal support for state anti-gambling positions and prior Supreme Court rulings indicating that the government has an interest in supporting non-gambling states, The Hill reported.

Utah Attorney General Derek Brown celebrated the decision, saying "[y]ou can’t rebrand illegal gambling as a federal commodity, and today a federal judge agreed with us." 

"Kalshi bet that clever branding would beat Utah law. Kalshi lost and Utah won,” he added.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.