CFTC sues Utah as prediction-market fight reaches 10 states

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. government have sued Utah over its enforcement against prediction markets, bringing the agency’s state jurisdiction challenges to 10. Summary Utah faces a federal lawsuit seeking to block state enforcement against federally regulated event-contract markets. Federal lawyers want protection covering registered exchanges, their affiliates and partners involved in covered transactions. Nine other states appear in the complaint’s list of earlier CFTC preemption actions. Kalshi’s separate appeal remains pending after Utah won an August ruling on gambling-law enforcement. The CFTC’s Oct. 27 announcement said the lawsuit seeks to stop Utah from using state law to shut down federally registered exchanges. Filed a day earlier in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, the 33-page complaint names the state and Attorney General Derek Brown as defendants in case 2:26-cv-01055. Federal lawyers are asking for preliminary and permanent injunctions covering state investigations and enforcement involving transactions on CFTC-regulated designated contract markets, known as DCMs. The requested protection includes regulated entities’ affil...