Authored by Stephen Katte via CoinTelegraph.com,
Two US congressional candidates and one sitting lawmaker have received fines and bans from Kalshi after they were found betting on the outcomes of their election races, as prediction market platforms crack down on insider trading.
Matt Klein, a sitting member of the Minnesota State Senate, wasfined$539 for betting on his primary race in his bid for the US House of Representatives, which is set to take place in August. Ezekiel Enriquez, who ran for a US House seat in March, received a $784 penalty,accordingto Kalshi's notice of settlement.
Another case involved Mark Moran, a candidate in Virginia's US Senate race, whoreceiveda $6,229 penalty and was ordered to return any profits from his trades after allegedly refusing to cooperate with Kalshi to resolve the issue. All three were banned from the platform for five years.
Prediction markets, which let users trade contracts on the outcomes of future events, havefaced growing scrutinyover insider trading and possible violations of gambling laws. Kalshi and Polymarket, the two largest platforms, havepledged to introduce stricter controlsand crack down on unlawful activity.
Moransaidin a statement on X that he placed his wager to test Kalshi's procedures and see how the platform would respond to insider trading.
“YES, I did bet ~$100 on myself on Kalshi because I wanted to get caught,”he said, adding that he“wanted to see (1) if Kalshi would come after me and (2) what their path would be.”
Kleinsaidin a statement that he placed the wager out of curiosity about how prediction markets worked, but later learned it violated platform rules.
“In compliance with their request, I paid a penalty and agreed to be suspended from the platform. That was the only wager I have ever made on a predictions market,”he added.
Klein is a co-sponsor of a bill in the Minnesota Legislature thataimsto ban wagers on the outcomes of real-world events such as elections or policy decisions.
Source: ZeroHedge News
