Prediction Markets

Utah Files Criminal Charges Against Kalshi Co-Founders

The state filed 14 criminal counts against the prediction market and its co-founders after an undercover agent wagered $114.87 on sporting events.

Tosin Akintola | 10.29.2026 3:00 PM

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(Illustration: raeme Sloan/Sipa USA/Thomas Fuller/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom.)

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour recently told Reason's Nick Gillespie there's a "big group" of lawmakers in both parties who are "actually" in favor of prediction market platforms. Utah Attorney General Derek Brown is not one of them. 

On Wednesday, Brown filed criminal charges in state court against Kalshi, Mansour, and fellow co-founder and chief operating officer Luana Lopes Lara. Mansour, Lopes Lara, and Kalshi are charged with one count of general gambling promotion, a class A misdemeanor; one count of pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony; and 12 counts of online gambling promotion, a third-degree felony.

The feud between Kalshi and Utah has been brewing for quite some time. In August, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby found........

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