Gambling is Very Illegal, and Very Popular, In Utah

Black markets? You don't say.

Utah bans all forms of gambling. Yet, games of chance — poker players would argue theirs is a game of skill — occur with regularity up and down the Beehive State.

"There's so much poker going on in this state," said Chadler Cowles, a past Utah director of the Poker Players Alliance. "You'd be surprised at who you saw at a game — doctors, lawyers, dentists, sometimes bishops, active members of every church you could imagine."

State lawmakers have done everything in their power to make Utah an island in the sea of government-sanctioned gambling coast to coast. But that hasn't stopped Utahns from finding creative ways to throw down a little cash without having to cross the state line.

Cards, bingo, dice, raffles, sports, March Madness and World Series office pools are all available for those looking for some action.