In brief
- Kalshi suspended North Carolina Republican Laurie Buckhout for three years on Friday after finding she traded contracts on her own congressional race.
- She bought less than $1,000 of contracts and must pay a $2,589.96 penalty, having cooperated with the exchange's inquiry.
- Kalshi banned former Rep. George Santos for life in the same batch of notices, fining him $71,356 after he failed to cooperate.
Prediction market Kalshi has suspended North Carolina Republican House candidate Laurie Buckhout for three years after finding she bet on her own election, according to a settlement notice published Monday.
Buckhout launched her campaign in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District in December 2025 and bought less than $1,000 of contracts on her race against Democratic Rep. Don Davis, the notice states. As a candidate she qualified as a direct decision maker over the outcome, which bars trading under Rule 5.17(z) of the exchange's rulebook.
The settlement took effect Friday. It bars the retired Army colonel from Kalshi for three years and imposes a penalty of $2,589.96, more than double what she wagered. Kalshi's compliance department found she cooperated with the inquiry.
Buckhout acknowledged the wager to The Hill. "I bet on myself. Literally. It was a dumb mistake," she said, adding that she worked to put it right once she learned there was a problem. A Kalshi spokesperson declined to comment further to the publication.
What cooperation buys
Buckhout is at least the fourth candidate the exchange has penalized for trading their own contest. Kalshi suspended Minnesota state Senator Matt Klein, former Texas congressional candidate Ezekiel Enriquez and Virginia Senate candidate Mark Moran for five years earlier in 2026, after each admitted betting on their own race. Klein paid $539.85 and Enriquez $784.20, while Moran, who declined to settle, was fined $6,229.30.
Earlier this week, Kalshi permanently banned former Rep. George Santos, fining him $71,356 over trades on his own attendance at the State of the Union address and citing the same prohibition on trading with influence over an outcome. Santos was also cited for failing to cooperate.
Kalshi, a CFTC-regulated exchange, and crypto-native rival Polymarket have drawn billions in volume over the past year.
The CFTC fined a former White House teleprompter operator $172,000 last week over trades placed on advance knowledge of presidential speeches. A U.S. soldier was charged over alleged Polymarket trades on the operation that ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and a MrBeast video editor was fired amid a Kalshi probe. The exchange has since rolled out new safeguards.
Buckhout won the Republican primary in March and faces Davis in a rematch, having lost to him in 2024 by less than two percentage points. Republicans in the state legislature redrew the 1st District last fall, and the Cook Political Report rates the seat as leaning Republican.