Utah Seeks to Block Kalshi Event Contracts and Claims Up to $61.2 Million in Damages

Utah has filed another complaint against Kalshi, asking the state court to stop the platform from offering event contracts tied to sports, politics, elections, and culture. For high-risk PSPs, the useful part is not the headline fight itself, but the size of the claimed exposure: Utah says the defendants generated up to $61.2 million from state users.

1. In a new complaint filed on Tuesday, October 20, in Utah’s Third District Court, state attorney general Derek Brown alleges that Kalshi, its affiliate, and two Susquehanna trading firms breached Utah gambling laws and owe restitution and other financial remedies of up to $61.2 million.
2. The complaint seeks an order barring Kalshi from providing event contracts on sports, politics, elections, and culture, along with georestrictions and recovery of profits allegedly earned through unlawful transactions.
3. Utah’s attorney general’s office says Kalshi generated between $30.6 million and $61.2 million in fees from Utah accounts on a total volume of $3 billion in trades placed. The complaint also says at least 32,000 Utah users traded on the platform.
4. The state says Kalshi began offering these markets by September 2024 even though the attorney general’s office claims the company knew they were not legal under state law. Brown said Utah has opposed gambling since statehood in 1896 and that position has not changed.
5. Kalshi pushed back, saying it is “a federally regulated financial exchange, like the stock market,” and that as a national derivatives market overseen by the CFTC, it answers to federal law rather than state vetoes. The company said the new state case does not affect its federal litigation.

Utah’s earlier case is already moving through federal court. In August, US District Judge Robert Shelby granted summary judgment to the state, and Kalshi has appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Brown has not said whether his office will pursue criminal investigations or additional proceedings, but he did say the matter is “part of a larger investigation.”