Three US congressional candidates wagered on the outcome of their own elections on Kalshi, according to the prediction market, which on Wednesday said that it fined and suspended the men from their platform for five years.
It is the latest high-profile case of alleged insider trading on prediction markets, including Kalshi and Polymarket, which have brought bipartisan scrutiny from the US Congress and calls for stricter regulations of the Web sites where people can put money on just about anything.
Kalshi’s disciplinary documents named Mark Moran, who is running as an independent in Virginia’s US Senate race; Ezekiel Enriquez, who ran in a Texas Republican primary for a US House of Representatives seat; and Matt Klein, a Democratic state senator running for a US House seat in Minnesota.
Photo: Reuters
Klein and Enriquez both placed bets of less than US$100 related to their “own candidacy,” Kalshi said.
Moran admitted to having bet US$100 on himself, saying he wanted to get caught.
“I traded $100 on myself, knowing this would happen (also knowing that I wouldn’t be vying for the Democratic nomination) and the attention it would create to highlight how this company is destroying young men and as Senator I will go after Kalshi and impose significant penalties on them — 25% — a vice tax — to pay down our national debt,” Moran wrote on X.
The relatively small bets follow mammoth wagers on prediction markets earlier this year that raised eyebrows. In one case, an anonymous Polymarket user made a US$400,000 profit in January on a wager that former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro would soon be out of office.
After two US senators announced legislation that threatened prediction markets, Kalshi and Polymarket last month highlighted new rules, including against political candidates trading on their own campaigns.
Moran refused to reach an agreement with Kalshi and was fined the most at more than US$6,200, while Klein and Enriquez did reach agreements and face penalties of more than $530 and $780 respectively, the company said.
All were suspended from Kalshi for five years.
US Representative Mike Levin slammed the repercussions on social media.
“That’s not a punishment. That’s a parking ticket,” he wrote
Additional reporting by Reuters
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