Utah

Utah’s anti-gambling tradition meets Kalshi and Polymarket in a new legal fight

Published

3 weeks ago

March 12, 2026

Utah’s anti-gambling tradition meets Kalshi and Polymarket in a new legal fight

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — For more than a century, Utah has kept gambling almost entirely out of the state. There are no casinos, no lotteries and no racetracks that allow bets, a prohibition rooted in the conservative ideals of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which views gambling as a vice that leads to selfishness and addiction.

But now, the state is fighting a new, more challenging battle to keep gambling outside its borders. It’s on the verge of enacting a law intended to undercut prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, which allow anyone with a smartphone to wager on anything from whether it will rain in Los Angeles to whether the United States will go to war.

While regulators and other states are still debating whether those markets constitute finance or gambling, Utah has already made up its mind.

“We are putting a casino in the pocket of every single American, and they are targeting especially young people,” said Gov. Spencer Cox. “It is really awful what they are doing, and we are going to make sure this doesn’t happen in our state.”

Cox said he will sign the legislation, putting conservative Utah at odds with the federal government. Kalshi has already sued the state, and the company is backed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency responsible for regulating financial markets.

The conflict puts Utah, a place that’s not known for picking fights, on the frontlines of a cultural, political and economic battle sweeping the country. On one side is a state deeply rooted in what is widely known as the Mormon church, where both politicians and faith leaders have treated the issue as a moral crusade. On the other is a growing industry — Kalshi and Polymarket are estimated to be worth $20 billion each after their last fundraising rounds — with connections in Washington that may offer some regulatory protection.

President Donald Trump’s eldest son is an adviser for both Kalshi and Polymarket and an investor in the latter. Trump’s social media platform Truth Social is also launching its own cryptocurrency-based prediction market called Truth Predict.

Whoever wins this round could shape how other states handle the issue in the future.

“What’s at stake here is whether states will be able to regulate gambling or if gambling is going to be subsumed into finance and ultimately regulated by Congress,” said Todd Phillips, a professor at Georgia State University who has written extensively about prediction market regulation.

Utah takes aim at prop betting

Polymarket and Kalshi allow participants to buy and sell contracts tied to the probable outcome of an event. Contracts are typically priced between one cent and 99 cents, which roughly translates to the percentage of customers who believe that event will happen.

The companies argue they offer products that allow customers to manage risk, like how farmers can buy corn futures to lock in the price of their crops ahead of time. And derivative markets like the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange have long offered what are known as binary options to investors, which bet on whether an event will or will not happen.

But unlike those derivative markets, the bulk of Kalshi’s trading volume and roughly half of Polymarket’s are now tied to sports. Kalshi said it saw more than $1 billion in volume traded on the Super Bowl alone.

Utah is seeking to limit prediction markets from doing business in the state by taking aim at proposition betting in sports, which can be a significant source of their revenue.

The bill that Cox plans to sign would expand the state’s gambling ban to include wagers on certain events happening in a game rather than the game’s outcome. An example of these “prop bets” would be how well a particular player performs, or a team hitting a specific threshold like rebounds or other metrics.

The legislation also aims to stop sportsbooks companies like FanDuel and DraftKings that have set up their own prediction markets, which analysts say could allow the companies to get around state gambling prohibitions.

Because of the vocal opposition of Utah officials, Kalshi preemptively sued the state in late February, asking a federal judge to stop Utah from enforcing its gambling restrictions on the platform. The judge has yet to rule on Kalshi’s request. Other judges in Nevada and Massachusetts have issued early rulings in favor of states looking to ban Kalshi and Polymarket from offering sports betting in their states, while judges in New Jersey in Tennessee have ruled in favor of Kalshi.

Kalshi argues its product is different from sportsbooks companies or casinos because customers are betting against each other instead of against the “house,” spokesperson Elisabeth Diana said.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission under Trump has agreed with Kalshi and has asserted that it has exclusive regulatory oversight of prediction markets. The agency argues states cannot ban the products from operating in their jurisdiction just because they are morally opposed to them.

“To those who seek to challenge our authority in this space, let me be clear, we will see you in court,” chairman Michael Selig said recently in a video posted to social media.

A moral crusade with religious roots

It’s the first major issue in which Cox has clashed with Trump in the year and a half since the Republican governor worked his way into Trump’s good graces after not voting for him in 2016 and 2020.

Patrick Mason, the chair of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University, said he is not surprised to see Cox and other Utah Republicans take a stand against prediction markets, even if it means going against their own party’s leadership in Washington. In the state, where about half of the 3.5 million residents are Latter-day Saints, even a simple game of church bingo is a rare sight.

“Maybe they play for M&Ms, but never money,” he said.

All the state’s major politicians, including the governor, lieutenant governor and its entire congressional delegation, are members of the church headquartered in Salt Lake City. When they view an issue as moral rather than political, the faith’s teachings often take precedence over appeasing the party, Mason explained.

Church doctrine prohibits gambling in any form, saying it is motivated by “a desire to get something for nothing” and is destructive to individuals and families.

“The idea that it goes against a sense of work ethic, a kind of fair exchange, has always been at the heart of the way a lot of people think about themselves in terms of Utah identity, and certainly Latter-day Saint identity and ethics,” Mason said.

Because of Utah’s religious roots, the state has prohibited gambling since it was admitted to the Union in 1895. Along with Hawaii, it has the strictest gambling prohibitions in the country. Utah doesn’t even allow broad multi-state lotteries like Powerball or Mega Millions.

Utah leads on both state and federal fronts

Phillips, the professor focused on industry regulation, said if Congress does not step in to clarify whether these new prediction markets are legal, the issue will be left to the courts.

“The line between gambling and finance is very, very fine,” Phillips said. “There’s a reason why Congress has, over and over again, stepped in to define and regulate financial markets when the products skew too close to gambling.”

There is already some movement on Capitol Hill, led in part by another Utah Republican.

Republican Rep. Blake Moore of Utah and Democratic Rep. Salud Carbajal of California introduced bipartisan legislation this week to more aggressively regulate prediction markets. The bill would prohibit the platforms from allowing bets on war, assassinations, terrorist attacks or election outcomes, and allow states to ban sports-related betting.

“We, as a society, should not be taking bets on whether we are going to invade Cuba,” Moore said.

Democratic senators have also said they will introduce legislation to ban wagers on violence.

“It’s insane this is legal,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on social media.

In court filings, Kalshi has tried to argue that its sports prediction market has economic utility and usefulness. It uses an example of an insurance company that underwrites the careers of college athletes using prediction markets to hedge the risk. Kalshi also argues that hotels, travel agencies and stadium management companies may be able to use prediction markets to hedge their risk against underperforming sports.

Moore said he is not swayed by Kalshi and Polymarket’s economic arguments.

“Utah’s economic outlook has been strong for many years,” he said. “I see no need why we need to embrace these as an economic tool.”

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Utah

Utah Completes Comeback, Beats Seattle 6-2 | Utah Mammoth

Published

6 hours ago

April 3, 2026

Press Room

Utah Completes Comeback, Beats Seattle 6-2 | Utah Mammoth

The Mammoth’s power play continues to dominate with three goals on the man-advantage against the Kraken. In addition, Thursday was Utah’s third straight game with multiple power play goals. Cooley’s first period power play goal kicked things off before Schmaltz scored with 5:04 left in the second period, while on the man-advantage. Carcone’s third period power play tally rounded out Utah’s special teams scoring with 3:23 left in regulation.

“I think we’re doing a better job shooting the puck,” Schmaltz said of the power play. “A lot of times, we look for the perfect play and it’s not there. We’re shooting pucks and then making plays off of that. We got a good attack mindset and we’re doing a really good job of recovering loose pucks and keeping possession time.”

“Confidence,” Peterka said of the power play’s recent success. “We’re out there making plays, getting opportunities, and I think just shooting more. That’s the main factor right now.”

Utah’s penalty kill shut down Seattle’s power play on all three opportunities. One of those times was late in the second period when the Mammoth had a narrow 3-2 lead, and were looking to escape the middle frame ahead of their opponent. Utah is 18-for-19 on the penalty kill since Mar. 16 and has had multiple successful kills in six of those eight contests.

Utah won both of its challenges tonight and each helped keep momentum in Utah’s favor. The first was when Seattle scored 6:11 into the second period to take a 3-1 lead. The Mammoth challenged for goaltender interference, won the challenge, and kept it a one-goal game. This was a significant momentum swing for the Mammoth and Utah tied the game four minutes later. In the third period, Dylan Guenther scored to make it 5-2, seven and a half minutes into the third period. However, it was immediately waved off for goaltender interference. The call was overturned, a goal was awarded, and the Mammoth extended their lead. This break allowed Utah to take away Seattle’s energy in the final frame.

“I like to keep the credit on the players, but this one, need to give some credit to (head video coordinator Hunter Cherni) and his group,” Tourigny smiled. “They did a really good job. As much as the one we challenge and the one we didn’t challenge in a sense, I think that was the right call. So, good job by them.”

Cooley’s 21^st and 22^nd goals of the season allowed Utah to rally from a 2-0 deficit. The forward has scored five goals in his last three games and has had back-to-back multi-goal outings for the second time in his NHL career. His three-game goal streak is the second-longest streak in his career, which currently stands at four games.

Schmaltz has lit the lamp in back-to-back games and has six points over his last five contests. Guenther has three goals and six total points over his last three games, and the forward had a three-point night (1G, 2A). Since the start of February, his 14 goals in 20 games are tied with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov for the third-most in the NHL in that time frame.

With the win, Utah has a five-point lead over the San Jose Sharks (WC2), Nashville Predators, and Los Angeles Kings who all have 79 points. The Mammoth have a six-plus point lead over the remaining teams chasing playoff berths in the west. Coming into this two-game road trip, the Mammoth knew how important it would be to win these games. After getting the first win, Utah is determined to keep going with Saturday’s game in Vancouver.

“I think it just gives us confidence,” Peterka said of the win. “We’re in a really good spot right now and just have to keep pushing. The road trip is really important for us, big game in Vancouver, so we need to keep pushing.”

Additional Notes from Tonight

Forward Jack McBain left the game during the second period and did not return. According to Mammoth PR he has a lower-body injury. McBain played 9:00, had two hits, and one block.

Utah swept the season series against Seattle with three multi-goal wins. Thursday was the first win in franchise history at Climate Pledge Arena. The Mammoth outscored the Kraken 17-8 during the 2025-26 campaign.

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Who has the edge in the Democratic race for Utah’s new blue district?

Published

18 hours ago

April 2, 2026

Press Room

Who has the edge in the Democratic race for Utah’s new blue district?

SALT LAKE CITY — Two Democrats have officially qualified for the June primary ballot for Utah’s newly redrawn 1st Congressional District after meeting the threshold for signature gathering.

Former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams and state Sen. Nate Blouin are the first candidates in the crowded Democratic primary field to qualify for the ballot, and several other challengers still need to turn in several thousand signatures by the end of next week in order to guarantee their place.

Candidates can also qualify for the primary by winning the support from party delegates at the nominating convention on April 25.

As the race to convention starts up in earnest, a new internal poll released by the Blouin campaign shows McAdams, a former Democratic congressman who served from 2019 to 2021, leading the field with support from 36% of likely primary voters followed by Blouin with 23%. Salt Lake City Councilwoman Eva Lopez Chavez and state Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, trail the two apparent front-runners with about 7% each, while the remaining Democratic candidates are polling in the low single digits.

The poll was conducted by Data for Progress, a progressive think tank and polling firm, which surveyed 381 voters primarily via text from March 23 to 26. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

While internal political polls should be taken with a grain of salt, the data provides the first public look at the race for the first Democratic-leaning congressional district Utah has had in recent years. That district was created thanks to a court-ordered map put in place after state lawmakers were found to have violated the state’s anti-gerrymandering law known as Proposition 4.

“I don’t think Utah has ever had a competitive district so packed for Democrats before,” said Leah Murray, the director of Weber State University’s Olene S. Walker Institute of Politics and Public Service. “I’m actually not sure what this will look like, because I’m not sure what Democrats do and how they behave in this ecosystem, because I’ve never seen it before.”

McAdams is the most recent Democrat to represent Utah at the federal level, but he won in 2018 in a very different district that required him to win over at least some number of Republicans or conservative-leaning voters.

That’s not the case this time around.

Because Utah Democrats tend to lean toward the left end of the political spectrum, Murray said Blouin could be seen as a favorite as the more progressive candidate. But the poll found that McAdams has higher name recognition among likely primary voters, which could explain his lead.

“Name recognition in a primary is so important because that’s an intraparty fight,” she said. “So you’re not really going to make a distinction between yourself and other candidates on issues, because Democrats are going to have … just different shades on a particular issue. So the name recognition lead, as big as it is for Ben McAdams, is definitely an advantage for him heading into this election cycle.”

With the wide field of Democratic hopefuls likely to be whittled down significantly during the convention later this month, the recent poll doesn’t capture the dynamics of what will be a race between only a few hopefuls.

A quarter of those surveyed for the poll say they are still undecided, and Blouin was optimistic about the state of the race.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve done to get within striking distance of the establishment’s choice in CD1,” Blouin told KSL through a spokesperson. “We are building a campaign focused on the needs of everyday Utahns, and that’s why our message resonates with this new district.”

A spokesperson for McAdams said, “Ben is the clear front-runner in this race, even based on his opponent’s polling. He will continue to work hard to share his long record of service and earn support from his neighbors across this district.”

Utah Democratic primaries are open, meaning unaffiliated voters and those registered with other parties can participate, which can further complicate efforts to get an accurate sample of voters who will actually participate in a Democratic primary, Murray said.

Ryan O-Donnell, the executive director of Data for Progress, said the poll “was designed to capture the likely Democratic primary electorate in (District 1) using a combination of voter-file turnout indicators and respondents’ stated likelihood of voting in the upcoming primary.”

“Our approach reflects both our methodological research and our past experience polling primary races,” he told KSL.

The other Democrats vying for the primary are Michael Farrell, Liban Mohamed and Luis Villarreal. The winner of the primary will face Forward Party candidate January Walker, Libertarian Jesse West, and the winner of the Republican primary, which includes Stone Fonua, Jonathan Lopez, Riley Owen and Dave Robinson.

The primary election is June 23, and Election Day is Nov. 3.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Houston faces Utah, aims for 5th straight home win

Published

1 day ago

April 2, 2026

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Utah Jazz (21-56, 14th in the Western Conference) vs. Houston Rockets (47-29, fifth in the Western Conference)

Houston; Friday, 8 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Houston hosts Utah looking to extend its four-game home winning streak.

The Rockets are 25-22 against Western Conference opponents. Houston averages 14.5 turnovers per game and is 19-8 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents.

The Jazz are 11-36 against Western Conference opponents. Utah is sixth in the league scoring 17.1 fast break points per game. Lauri Markkanen leads the Jazz averaging 3.3.

The Rockets score 114.4 points per game, 11.0 fewer points than the 125.4 the Jazz give up. The Jazz score 7.4 more points per game (117.3) than the Rockets give up (109.9).

The teams square off for the fourth time this season. The Rockets won the last matchup 125-105 on Feb. 24. Jabari Smith Jr. scored 31 points to help lead the Rockets to the win.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kevin Durant is averaging 25.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists for the Rockets. Reed Sheppard is averaging 3.6 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Ace Bailey is averaging 13.5 points for the Jazz. Brice Sensabaugh is averaging 17.2 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rockets: 6-4, averaging 116.3 points, 46.8 rebounds, 29.4 assists, 8.0 steals and 5.4 blocks per game while shooting 48.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 110.1 points per game.

Jazz: 1-9, averaging 117.1 points, 42.0 rebounds, 29.8 assists, 9.4 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 47.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 128.2 points.

INJURIES: Rockets: Fred VanVleet: out for season (acl), Steven Adams: out for season (ankle).

Jazz: Lauri Markkanen: out (hip), Isaiah Collier: out (hamstring), Keyonte George: out (leg), Walker Kessler: out for season (shoulder), Jusuf Nurkic: out for season (nose), Elijah Harkless: day to day (hamstring), Jaren Jackson Jr.: out for season (knee).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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