Legal Utah Betting Sites

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Utah Sports Betting Overview

Few people in Utah, including lawmakers, have displayed any interest in changing state laws to legalize sports betting. Utah sports betting efforts face an uphill battle, to say the least.

Strong anti-gambling sentiments permeate Utah and make it difficult for any efforts to legalize sports betting to gain any traction.

For instance, Utah enacted  in 2012 to preemptively outlaw online sports betting and gambling sites, years before the Supreme Court struck down PASPA.

What Will It Take To Legalize Sports Betting In Utah?

One provision in Utah law specifically states:

“…if any federal law authorizes Internet gambling in the states, this state shall opt out of allowing Internet gambling…”

The odds of any gambling legislation gaining the support needed to overturn the state’s ban on sports betting in Utah are low, especially because more than 60% of the state’s population is Mormon and  on religious grounds.

Such an effort would also face the significant task of amending the Utah Constitution, which prevents the legislature from authorizing any form of gambling.  explains in no uncertain terms:

The Legislature shall not authorize any game of chance, lottery or gift enterprise under any pretense or for any purpose.

A constitutional amendment to authorize sports betting in Utah would require a two-thirds vote in the legislature, and then receive approval from a majority of voters in the next general election, in a state deeply opposed to gambling.

Unfortunately, legal sportsbooks are not coming to Utah anytime soon.

However, daily fantasy sports sites and apps are available in Utah, offering prediction contests that closely resemble parlay wagers.

Utah Daily Fantasy Sports

Although Utah is home to some of the most restrictive gambling laws in the nation, daily fantasy sports sites operate openly in the state.

Daily fantasy sports operators contend that their contests are based on skill rather than luck and offer their services under that assumption.

Utah law neither explicitly criminalizes daily fantasy sports nor condones the activity. As is the case in numerous states, the DFS industry operates in a legal grey area in Utah.

In Utah, state law criminalizes gambling both online and in-person.

 defines gambling as:

“Risking anything of value for a return or risking anything of value upon the outcome of a game, contest, game, gaming scheme, or gaming device when the return or outcome is based on an element of chance.”

Arguments could be made for or against daily fantasy sports apps being classified as illegal gambling under Utah law. However, the issue has never been tested in court, and lawmakers have not addressed the issue with legislation.

Right now, all major daily fantasy sports sites in Utah are open for business, and local authorities haven’t made any indications they plan to take action against DFS operators.

Utah Horse Racing Betting

Utah’s long opposition to gambling includes pari-mutuel wagering, so the first legal Utah horse racing betting sites are likely a long way off.

Utah is one of a handful of states with zero legal horse racing betting options. There are no online racebooks, pari-mutuel race tracks, or simulcasting facilities in Utah, and there is little desire among lawmakers to change that. All horse races that occur in Utah today are purely the non-betting type.

In 1926, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that horse racing betting is a game of skill (versus game of chance) and therefore does not contravene anti-gambling provisions in the Utah Constitution. However, the legislature banned horse race betting in 1927, and all efforts since to lift the ban have been pummeled by the opposition.

Past Attempts to Legalize Horse Racing Betting in Utah

Lawmakers have tried twice to legalize pari-mutuel horse racing wagering in Utah and ran into insurmountable obstacles in both cases.

1992: Utah Horse Racing Betting Referendum

Utah’s first attempt occurred in 1992 via a seeking to legalize horse racing wagering, but 60% of voters rejected the proposal. The legislature also approved the Utah Horse Racing Act that same year to oversee non-pari-mutuel horse racing and establish the .

2019: SB 181

The second attempt occurred in 2019 when Senator David Hinkins introduced . The bill sought to authorize horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering in counties where a majority of voters approve legalization. It also would have created the Pari-Mutuel Horse Racing Commission to regulate all pari-mutuel wagering in Utah.

Hinkins’ Utah horse racing betting bill also authorized simulcasting and advance deposit wagering.

Tax revenue generated by Utah horse betting was earmarked for the countries where pari-mutuel wagering occurred, and the state government would not have have received a percentage. Senator Hinkins explained that while a million dollars is a big deal for some rural counties, “it’s just a drop in the bucket for our state budget.”

The proposal was immediately met with resistance, including a statement from then-Governor Herbert publicly opposing the bill. In part, he said he had “serious concerns” about pari-mutuel betting. Instead of “growing the economic pie,” he said, legal horse racing betting “merely slices it up differently.”

“It takes money, redistributes it among those in the pool (less administrative costs), and returns nothing of value,” he said in a statement. The governor’s spokesman also warned that because of how federal law manages gaming on Indian reservations, pari-mutuel betting in Utah could potentially open the door to other types of gambling that are banned under the state constitution.

Sen. Hinkins remained unpersuaded,  that pari-mutuel wagering “is gambling, but it’s educated gambling. It’s not a game of chance. It takes knowledge to be able to study the horses to decide jockeys, trainers, ways to do that to make a wager on the horse.”

Even so, Senator Hinkins  in the face of overwhelming opposition.

Unfortunately, online horse racing betting in Utah is not coming to state residents anytime soon.

Utah Gambling Laws

Utah takes the official stance that all gambling is unlawful, no matter who organizes the activity, with no exceptions.

The blanket ban includes tribal lands, private homes, wagers among friends, and online betting sites that accept Utah residents. Section 76-10-1102 of the Criminal Code makes it a Class B misdemeanor to participate in gambling or make available any property to be used for gambling.

The exact text of the provision reads as follows:

(1) A person is guilty of gambling if the person:

(a) participates in gambling, including any Internet or online gambling;

(b) knowingly permits any gambling to be played, conducted, or dealt upon or in any real or personal property owned, rented, or under the control of the actor, whether in whole or in part; or

(c) knowingly allows the use of any video gaming device that is:

(i) in any business establishment or public place; and

(ii) accessible for use by any person within the establishment or public place.

(2) Gambling is a class B misdemeanor, except that any person who is convicted two or more times under this section is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

(3) (a) A person is guilty of a class A misdemeanor who intentionally provides or offers to provide any form of Internet or online gambling to any person in this state.

HB 108 (mentioned above) amended this provision in 2012 to include a clause that prohibits internet gambling and prohibits Utah from ever participating in a federal legalization scheme:

(4) If any federal law is enacted that authorizes Internet gambling in the states and that federal law provides that individual states may opt out of Internet gambling, this state shall opt out of Internet gambling in the manner provided by federal law and within the time frame provided by that law.

(5) Whether or not any federal law is enacted that authorizes Internet gambling in the states, this section acts as this state’s prohibition of any gambling, including Internet gambling, in this state.

Section 76-10-1101 provides the state’s definition of gambling:

(2) (a) “Gambling” means risking anything of value for a return or risking anything of value upon the outcome of a contest, game, gaming scheme, or gaming device when the return or outcome:

(i) is based upon an element of chance; and

(ii) is in accord with an agreement or understanding that someone will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.

This definition paints a broad stroke and covers just about everything related to gambling. A careful reading of the text appears to make an exception for contests of skill, but even that is up for debate.

As noted above, all major DFS sites accept customers from Utah.

To further illustrate Utah’s anti-gambling stance, we note that Congressman Jason Chaffetz teamed up with Senator Lindsey Graham to introduce a bill titled Restoration of America’s Wire Act in 2014 in an attempt to reverse a 2011 US Department of Justice ruling that declared the Wire Act only applies to online sports betting.

Their motivation was to ban all online gambling at the federal level.

The DOJ’s 2011 decision is what made it possible for states to legalize online gambling sites. The Restoration of America’s Wire Act would have reversed the DOJ’s decision and killed the burgeoning online gambling industry in the United States.

The effort failed to yield results, but it will most likely be a long time before Utah seriously considers expanding its online betting options.

Utah Sports Betting FAQ