Utah Attorney General Brings Criminal Charges Against Prediction Market Kalshi and Its Two Co-Founders: 14 Counts in Total
In Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, Attorney General Derek Brown filed criminal charges on October 28 in state court in Salt Lake County against prediction market platform Kalshi and its two co-founders, Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, totaling 14 counts: 12 counts of online gambling promotion, a third-degree felony; one count of pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony; and one count of general gambling promotion, a misdemeanor.
Charging documents cite 12 instances in September in which an undercover agent was allowed to place bets on football, baseball and other sports matches on the platform. “Gambling is illegal in Utah, whether you place the bet, run the game, or promote it,” Brown said in a statement. “Calling it a ‘prediction market’ doesn't change what it is, and being federally registered doesn't put a company above the law.”
The criminal charges came a day after the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued to block the state from enforcing its anti-gambling laws against the company. A federal judge ruled in August that federal law did not prevent Utah from enforcing its state gaming laws against Kalshi, and Brown filed a civil lawsuit last week alleging Kalshi was allowing residents to illegally place bets on sports, elections and politics. A Kalshi spokesperson called the charges “a crazy overreach” and said the company looks forward to stopping them in court. The charges have not been proven in court.
Source: GSM America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：犹他州议会大厦（Salt Lake City）。Pocksuppet1999摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经Wikimedia Commons。 / Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City. Photo by Pocksuppet1999, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
