Utah AG Took Gambling Donations While Suing Kalshi

The 2025 and 2026 filings show donations from two direct competitors of Kalshi, a senior executive at a third competitor, two sweepstakes casino companies and a Las Vegas casino operator.

Sideprize, LLC, which operates the daily fantasy sports platform PrizePicks, made two payments of $2,500 in 2025. DK Crown, a DraftKings subsidiary, gave $5,000 in April 2025. In January, Underdog Fantasy Sports senior vice president Stacie Stern donated $10,000.

Arb Gaming LLC and VGW LuckyLand Inc., which both run online sweepstakes casinos, gave a combined $10,000 this year. The largest single gift came in April, when Las Vegas Sands Corporation donated $50,000 after Brown publicly announced his plan to crack down on online gambling platforms. Las Vegas Sands has a long record of lobbying against online gambling.

Brown's campaign advisor, Matt Lusty, said the attorney general receives many donations each year and that they have no influence on his decision-making. He said Brown remains focused on going after companies and individuals that harm Utahns.

The Salt Lake Tribune, which also reviewed the filings, counted four donations totaling $20,000 from Kalshi's main prediction market competitors since Brown took office in 2025. It reported that the contributions raise questions about the relationship between the state's top law enforcement official and companies with a stake in the gambling fight, while Brown's campaign says they do not influence his decisions.

Brown first set out his plan to act against online gambling in a February editorial in the Deseret News. Utah's constitution prohibits gambling, and courts across the country are now deciding whether prediction markets legally count as gambling.

Kalshi sued Gov. Spencer Cox in federal court, and in August a judgment was entered in the state's favor upholding its gambling laws. Kalshi has appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the case is ongoing.

Last week Brown filed a civil complaint in Utah's 3rd District Court asking that Kalshi stop what he calls illegal conduct and compensate the state for alleged harm. The federal government and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission responded in a federal complaint filed Monday, arguing that Utah has no authority to ban derivatives markets governed by federal law and that the commission's jurisdiction is exclusive.

On Wednesday the attorney general's office filed criminal charges against KalshiEx, LLC, including a second-degree felony count of pattern of unlawful activity and 12 counts of online gambling promotion, each a third-degree felony, plus a class A misdemeanor for general gambling promotion. 

The charges cite 12 instances involving wagers on football and hockey games in Utah. Kalshi says its contracts are event contracts traded on a federally regulated exchange under Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversight, not sports betting, and the company has not conceded the state's claims.