DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics and Robinhood Pull Sports Contracts From Utah After Kalshi Charges

Michael Johnson
By Senior writer, US gambling and regulation Published Sources linked below5 min read
The Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City seen from an angle, the seat of the state government that filed criminal charges against Kalshi.
The Utah State Capitol, photographed in October 2010, houses the state government that filed 14 criminal counts against prediction market operator Kalshi. Photo: Mangoman88, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Utah’s criminal case against Kalshi is already reshaping the prediction market business in the state, weeks before any courtroom hearing. DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, Robinhood and PrizePicks have each stopped offering sports and other non-financial event contracts to people in Utah over the past week, according to company statements given to FOX 13 News and the trade publication Yogonet.

The pullback follows the 14 criminal counts Attorney General Derek Brown filed against Kalshi and its two co-founders in late October. Fanatics made the broadest move, halting all trading in Utah on Wednesday, November 4.

Who pulled what

The companies did not all go equally far. Most kept products tied to stocks, commodities or economic data and dropped markets on sports, politics, culture and other novelty topics. Fanatics is the outlier, ending trading in the state altogether.

Table comparing what DraftKings, FanDuel, Robinhood, PrizePicks and Fanatics pulled and kept in Utah, with Fanatics stopping all trading from Nov. 4 and Robinhood restricting new positions from Nov. 2, beside a panel noting 14 criminal counts against Kalshi and a December court date.
Five platforms cut back their Utah event contracts after the state charged Kalshi; only Fanatics left entirely. Source: FOX 13 News, Yogonet, company statements.
  • DraftKings Predictions pulled its sports, political, novelty and certain other contracts for users inside Utah’s borders right away. The company said trading on stocks, commodities and crypto continues, and trades already open in the dropped markets will run to settlement normally.
  • FanDuel Predicts shut off sports, political and novelty contracts in Utah starting last Friday morning, Yogonet reported, while leaving its economic and financial markets running.
  • Fanatics Markets said that “due to recent developments” it would stop trade placement in Utah on November 4.
  • Robinhood said it would block Utah customers from opening new positions on sports, culture, elections and politics beginning November 2, leaving finance and economics markets in place.
  • PrizePicks has switched off two Utah products, Team Picks and Culture Picks, though Player Picks, its daily fantasy-style game, remains available.

Robinhood was the only company that disputed Utah’s legal theory in its statement. “While we do not believe these contracts violate any state laws, beginning on November 2, 2026, we will restrict customers in Utah from entering new event contract positions on sports, culture, elections, and politics,” a spokesperson told FOX 13.

What Utah’s attorney general said

Brown welcomed the exits and credited the companies by name in remarks provided to the Salt Lake City station: “Some of the largest online gambling apps are now pulling out of Utah. I appreciate these companies being responsive to our efforts.”

He went on: “It is the right outcome for Utah families who want gambling’s harms kept out of their homes and communities. We will continue to enforce Utah law against any company that brings gambling into Utah.”

It is the right outcome for Utah families who want gambling’s harms kept out of their homes and communities.

Derek Brown, Utah Attorney General

FOX 13 pointed out that no company directly linked its move to the prosecution, but the sequence of events is hard to miss. Brown had also used a press conference to put other operators on notice, according to Yogonet: “For other companies that are operating here in Utah, I would ask two things. Number one, read this complaint, and number two, we’re simply asking you to follow the law, follow Utah law.”

The charges behind the retreat

The criminal case names KalshiEX LLC along with co-founders Tarek Mansour, the chief executive, and Luana Lopes Lara, the chief operating officer. FOX 13 reported the counts, 13 felonies and one misdemeanor in all, as follows:

  • One second-degree felony count of pattern of unlawful activity
  • 12 third-degree felony counts of online gambling promotion
  • One class A misdemeanor count of gambling promotion

According to the probable cause affidavit, an investigator posing as a Utah resident signed up for Kalshi through a Utah internet connection and bet on games. Yogonet, citing the charging papers, said the investigator bought 12 sports contracts during September. Both co-founders were summoned rather than arrested, and the case is scheduled to come before a 3rd District judge in Salt Lake City in December.

Kalshi is still fighting

Kalshi, unlike its rivals, is contesting Utah on several fronts. When the charges were filed, the company told FOX 13: “This is a crazy overreach; Utah is clearly playing politics. We look forward to putting a stop to this in court, just like we did in Arizona.” That was a reference to a federal court ruling that stopped Arizona from prosecuting Kalshi.

The Scott M. Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City under an overcast sky, where Kalshi faces criminal charges brought by Utah
The Scott M. Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, home of Utah's 3rd District Court, where Kalshi and its co-founders are due in December. Photo: Tamanoeconomico, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Kalshi’s own federal lawsuit is now before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby ruled in August that federal law does not override Utah’s gambling restrictions, and the appeals court refused Kalshi’s emergency bid to pause enforcement in the meantime. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have filed a brief supporting Utah, while the Trump administration has backed Kalshi.

Washington has also gone on offense. The CFTC and the Justice Department sued Utah, contending that federal commodities law leaves oversight of event contracts to the agency alone, and Crypto.com and its sister platform OG.com brought their own case against the state, Yogonet reported.

Two strategies in one market

The retreat shows how differently the industry is handling state pushback. Yogonet notes that DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics have played it safer, typically offering sports contracts only where they have no licensed sportsbook, whereas Kalshi and Polymarket keep taking states to court.

Utah puts that approach to a hard test. Lawmakers there are forbidden by Utah’s constitution from legalizing lotteries, gift enterprises or games of chance, which is also why DraftKings does not offer its sportsbook to Utah customers. The stakes reach well beyond one state: Flutter reported this week that FanDuel Predicts drew an average of 66,000 players a month in the third quarter, a 39% jump on the second quarter, then signed up 140,000 more customers in October.

What happens next

Several pending steps will shape the fight from here:

  • Kalshi and its co-founders are due in 3rd District Court in December on the criminal charges.
  • The 10th Circuit has yet to rule on the merits of Kalshi’s appeal.
  • Courts still have to take up the CFTC’s lawsuit against Utah and the Crypto.com and OG.com challenge.
  • In its civil case, Utah wants a state judge to issue a preliminary injunction requiring Kalshi to wall off Utah users the way courts have already forced it to in Nevada, Michigan and Washington.

For Utah residents, the practical change is already visible: most large regulated brands have removed sports and political markets, and Fanatics has left entirely. Whether Kalshi follows is now a question for the courts.

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Sources

Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a senior copywriter and content strategist who has written for regulated gambling operators for close to a decade. He was a copywriter at The Rank Group in Gibraltar (2017-2019), a senior copywriter in the Ladbrokes Coral creative studio at Entain (2019-2021) and senior creative copywriter at Eyas Gaming (2021-2024), where he led messaging for gaming brands in regulated international markets and worked closely with compliance teams. Before that he wrote about videogames and esports for PC Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, Red Bull Esports and Kotaku UK. At Casinojournal he covers US gambling regulation, prediction markets, sports betting and sweepstakes casinos.

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