A Utah Senate committee unanimously approved legislation Thursday aimed at banning proposition betting, a form of wagering on specific in-game events such as an athlete’s performance rather than the final outcome of a game.
Lawmakers said the measure seeks to clarify what they describe as a growing legal gray area in sports wagering, the Utah News Dispatch reported.
The bill, HB243, is sponsored by Rep. Joseph Elison, a Republican from Toquerville. It defines proposition betting as a “gambling bet on an individual action, statistic, occurrence, or non-occurrence.” After previously passing the Utah House, the legislation is now headed to the Utah Senate for further consideration.
Elison said the proposal is intended to address confusion around emerging betting platforms and prediction-style markets that operate under different regulatory frameworks.
“It’s a huge gray area, and there are lots of lawsuits all over the country right now, debating this very thing, trying to find out what the actual definitions are,” Elison told the Dispatch. “They’re flying under what’s called prediction markets, and prediction markets are regulated by the Federal Commodities Exchange. That’s why they’re able to do it.”
Utah’s constitution already prohibits gambling. The bill would expand the state’s definition of gambling to explicitly include proposition betting. However, questions remain about how the measure might affect prediction markets if it becomes law.
A spokesperson for Utah House Republicans said the state attorney general’s office would “navigate this new landscape” if the bill passes.
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown told the committee that advances in technology have changed how gambling operates. “Gambling used to be really clear and obvious,” he said, noting the shift to digital platforms. “Proposition betting, generally, is starting to blur that line between traditional gambling and gambling on apps.”
Brown described how some platforms frame wagers as trades on future outcomes rather than bets, which he argued creates a legal distinction that can resemble gambling. “There are a lot of apps, rather than betting on sports, for instance, they’re trying to make it look like it is a trade on the future,” he said.
Under the proposal, betting apps with prop wagering, such as FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM, would be explicitly banned in Utah. Meanwhile, prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket may not be directly affected by the legislation.
National scrutiny of prediction-style markets has been increasing in recent months. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox recently criticized Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig and warned that online betting is “destroying lives.”
“We’re not necessarily aiming at platforms, we’re aiming at the principle of not allowing proposition betting,” Elison said. “It’s a multi-hundred-billion-dollar business throughout the country, and we’re trying to address one specific thing here for the state of Utah.”
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/02/24/117747-utah-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-proposition-betting
