Utah’s fight with Kalshi moved from one federal case to three courts in eight days. On 20 October 2026 the state sued Kalshi in its own courts. On 26 October the federal government sued Utah. On 28 October the Attorney General filed criminal charges against KalshiEX LLC and its two co-founders. Kalshi has announced no change for Utah, and none of these filings has yet produced a court order that makes it stop serving the state.
The civil suit, 20 October
Attorney General Derek Brown filed Brown v. Kalshi Inc. et al., case 260908356, in the Third Judicial District Court for Salt Lake County. We could not read the state’s complaint or its Declaration of Public Nuisance, both posted behind a security check. The federal government’s complaint quotes the state suit at length, and the account here follows those quotations.
The defendants are Kalshi Inc., KalshiEX LLC, the clearing companies Kalshi Klear Inc. and Kalshi Klear LLC, Kalshi Trading LLC, and two Susquehanna firms that act as market makers. Utah alleges that the defendants knew sports bets were illegal in the state and began offering them to Utah residents by at least September 2024, and that Kalshi’s contracts are “indistinguishable from the bets offered by a traditional sportsbook”. It asks for an order barring the covered event contracts in Utah, a public nuisance finding, restitution, disgorgement, damages and punitive damages.
The federal suit, 26 October
The United States and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Utah and Brown in the US District Court for the District of Utah, case 2:26-cv-01055. The CFTC announced it on 27 October. The complaint argues that event contracts on a designated contract market are swaps under the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction, so Utah’s gambling and public nuisance laws are preempted for those markets. It asks for preliminary and permanent injunctions against the state suit and any future action against CFTC-regulated exchanges. The CFTC says it has started proceedings against nine other states. Kalshi is not a party to this case.
The criminal charges, 28 October
The Attorney General’s office filed a criminal information in the Third District Court naming KalshiEX LLC as defendant and Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, its co-founders, as co-defendants, by summons rather than arrest. It lists 14 counts:
- Count 1: pattern of unlawful activity, a second degree felony.
- Counts 2 to 13: online gambling promotion, each a third degree felony.
- Count 14: general gambling promotion, a class A misdemeanor.
The charges rest on 12 wagers that Special Agent Scott Eggerman placed through a Kalshi account between 13 and 24 September 2026, from Salt Lake and Davis counties. They were on National Football League, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, National Hockey League and college games, including the Utah Utes against the Utah State Aggies. Each time, the information says, Kalshi took a fee from his balance. It describes Mansour as chief executive and Lopes Lara as chief operating officer and relies on their public statements about controlling the business. The charges are allegations that have not been tested in court.
How Utah got here
- February 2026: Kalshi sues Utah officials in federal court, arguing federal law preempts the state’s gambling ban.
- 4 August 2026: Judge Robert Shelby rules for Utah.
- 8 September 2026: The Tenth Circuit refuses Kalshi an injunction while it appeals.
- 13 to 26 September 2026: The undercover wagers named in the charges.
What it means for users in Utah
Nothing has changed on the platform yet. No court has ordered Kalshi to geofence Utah, and Kalshi has not said it will. The civil suit asks for exactly that order, so a ruling in state court, or one in the federal case that goes the other way, would decide it. The criminal charges target the company and its founders, not people who trade.
What changes in our data
No status changes. Kalshi keeps its US status in Utah until a court order or a Kalshi notice says otherwise. The Utah page now lists all three filings.
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