Derek Brown
Role at the time: Utah Attorney General, in a statement to FOX 13 News
Statement summary
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown says gambling is illegal in Utah whether a person places the bet, runs the game or promotes it, that neither the prediction market label nor federal registration changes that, and that Kalshi kept taking bets from Utahns after a federal court ruled that the state's gambling laws apply to it.
“Gambling is illegal in Utah, whether you place the bet, run the game, or promote it. Calling it a ‘prediction market’ doesn’t change what it is, and being federally registered doesn’t put a company above the law. A federal court has already ruled that Utah’s gambling laws apply to Kalshi. Kalshi kept taking bets from Utahns anyway. That is illegal, and we’re putting a stop to it”
FOX 13 News (KSTU, Salt Lake City) report on the criminal charges, with excerpts from the probable cause affidavit, Attorney General Derek Brown's statement to FOX 13 and Kalshi's statement in response.
Why we used this label
Relative to Kalshi's offering of sports event contracts to Utah users, Brown calls the offering illegal gambling and says the state is putting a stop to it.