North Carolina Republican congressional hopeful Laurie Buckhout has been fined $2,500 and banned for three years from the prediction market platform Kalshi for placing a wager on her campaign. Buckhout, a former Pentagon official during the Trump administration, acknowledged the penalty on Monday, calling it a "dumb mistake."
Buckhout stated that she bet on herself and did not realize it was against the platform's rules. Kalshi confirmed that Buckhout cooperated with the inquiry, agreed to the resolution, paid the penalty, and accepted the trading restriction. It remains unclear whether the bet concerned her primary victory or the general election, the amount wagered, or when the bet was placed.
Buckhout is challenging incumbent Rep. Don Davis (D-NC) in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District, a battleground seat that was redrawn to favor Republican candidates. The Cook Political Report rates the race as "lean Republican." This general election is a rematch of the 2024 contest, in which Davis narrowly defeated Buckhout by 1.7 percentage points. Buckhout secured the GOP nomination earlier this year, defeating Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck.
This incident follows similar controversies involving political insiders using prediction markets. In a separate case on Monday, Kalshi permanently banned former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) after he placed a bet on whether he would attend the State of the Union address. Earlier this year, an Army soldier was charged with using classified information to place a large bet on a military operation.
Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Nevada can regulate Kalshi under state gambling laws, despite the platform's federal license. The implications of this ruling for the prediction market industry are expected to be a subject of future Supreme Court attention.