The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Utah on Oct. 27, according to a press release from the agency. The CFTC asked a federal court to block the state from shutting down prediction market platforms, including Kalshi, as illegal gambling.
Utah is the 10th state the CFTC has sued over attempts to close federally registered prediction markets, the agency said. Earlier lawsuits targeted Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New Mexico and Kentucky.
Utah is seeking to shut down prediction markets “across a wide variety of markets,” CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said. Event contracts, he added, “do not just serve hedging and investment purposes, they also provide the public with information.”
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown called the platforms illegal gambling. “Anyone offering gambling to Utahns is on notice that it is illegal,” he said. Utah has argued the platform is a “public nuisance that is causing substantial ongoing harm” to residents.
A U.S. district court in Utah previously ruled in the state's favor, and the case is now on appeal. Federal appeals courts have issued conflicting rulings in prediction market disputes, siding with states twice and with Kalshi once, the CFTC said.
In 2022, Polymarket settled with the CFTC and agreed to ban U.S. users. The Utah attorney general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
