Kalshi suspended North Carolina Republican Laurie Buckhout for three years on Friday after determining she traded contracts on her own congressional race.
She purchased less than $1,000 worth of contracts and must pay a $2,589.96 penalty after cooperating with the exchange’s investigation.
In the same batch of notices, Kalshi banned former Rep. George Santos for life and fined him $71,356 for failing to cooperate.
Prediction market Kalshi has suspended North Carolina Republican House candidate Laurie Buckhout for three years after determining she placed bets 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 purchased less than $1,000 in contracts on her contest against Democratic Rep. Don Davis, the notice states. Because she qualified as a direct decision-maker over the outcome, such trading is barred under Rule 5.17(z) of the exchange’s rulebook.
The settlement took effect Friday. It bans the retired Army colonel from Kalshi for three years and imposes a penalty of $2,589.96, more than double the amount she wagered. Kalshi’s compliance department found that she cooperated fully 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 resolve the issue once she realized there was a problem. A Kalshi spokesperson declined to provide further comment to the publication.
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What cooperation buys
Buckhout is at least the fourth candidate the exchange has penalized for trading on 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 to 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 for trades on his own attendance at the State of the Union address, citing the same prohibition against 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 generated billions in trading volume over the past year.
The CFTC fined a former White House teleprompter operator $172,000 last week for trades placed using advance knowledge of presidential speeches. A U.S. soldier was charged in connection with 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 introduced new safeguards.
Buckhout won the Republican primary in March and now 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.
