Kalshi Suspends North Carolina Republican Candidate Laurie Buckhout for Three Years Over Election Contract Trades

Prediction market exchange Kalshi has suspended North Carolina Republican House candidate Laurie Buckhout from trading for three years after she traded contracts tied to her own congressional race. According to Odaily, the settlement took effect on Friday, and Buckhout must also pay a $2,589.96 fine. Buckhout bought contracts worth less than $1,000 while running against Democratic Representative Don Davis in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District. Under Kalshi rules, candidates are considered people with direct decision-making influence over the outcome and are barred from trading related contracts. Kalshi previously suspended Minnesota state Senator Matt Klein, former Texas congressional candidate Ezekiel Enriquez, and Virginia state Senate candidate Mark Moran for five years for betting on their own elections. Former Representative George Santos was permanently banned and fined $71,356 for trading a contract tied to his own State of the Union attendance. Buckhout won the Republican primary in March and will face Davis again. She previously lost by less than 2 percentage points in 2024. Kalshi is regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and recorded billions of dollars in trading volume over the past year.