OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined 37 other state attorneys general on Thursday in filing an amicus brief supporting Utah’s enforcement of gambling laws against prediction market operator Kalshi. The filing backs Utah gaming authorities in the case KalshiEX LLC v. Cox, which is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Kalshi’s appeal requests the Tenth Circuit find that the federal Commodities Exchange Act preempts Utah’s state constitutional prohibition on sports wagering as applied to sports event contracts traded on prediction market providers like Kalshi. The coalition of attorneys general argues that federal preemption of state gambling laws as applied to prediction market providers is improper and detrimental to the traditional role of the states in regulating gambling and protecting vulnerable citizens.

The attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming joined the filing. This filing marks the ninth time California has joined multistate amicus efforts targeting Kalshi and similar prediction market companies. Primary source: oag.ca.gov

"Prediction markets cannot use federal loopholes to bypass state consumer protection, sports gaming, and gambling laws," Bonta said. "By joining this brief, we are standing firmly with Utah and our state partners to ensure that federal commodities laws are not weaponized to evade state laws, fuel gambling addiction, and undermine state regulation of legal gaming."

The brief is comparable to others filed in similar cases nationwide, including in the Third, Fourth, Sixth, and Ninth Circuits, and in support of New Jersey’s Petition for Writ Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.