The LDS church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), which is also based in Utah has provided explicit guidance against participation in Kalshi and Polymarket as gambling.

Here is their official stance on gambling: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topi...

I am not sure how much, if any, impact or influence this has had on Utah law.

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jboggan an hour ago | parent | next [-]

They absolutely have been the main force behind the timing of this push. It was the main topic of General Conference a few weeks ago and one of the most eyebrow-raising articulations of official church policy.

Given the way that the church has explicitly encouraged state legislators to shoot down recent laws it's not surprising to think they'd be pushing for this.

	▲	an hour ago \| parent [-]
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mahboi an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Also "Utah is one of only two states where gambling is also prohibited under the state constitution"

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gottorf an hour ago | parent [-]

Funnily enough, Hawaii is the other one. Three more states also do not have lotteries.

	▲	mahboi an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Hm, I could get behind that in California

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petcat an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Ehh I wouldn't try to appeal too much to what the LDS church thinks about this. They require members to give 10% of their annual income to the church, while already having close to $300 billion in the bank.

Everyone knows the state of Utah is largely run by the church.

	▲	wredcoll an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		If the state of utah is run by the church, then presumably if the church wants to ban kalshi, it's going to matter.
	▲	mahboi an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The point isn't to appeal, right? Just speculate on whether the church is the reason for this.