A North Carolina congressional candidate has been fined and banned from the prediction market platform Kalshi for three years, after being caught betting on her own election.
Kalshi announced the disciplinary action against Republican Laurie Buckhout on Monday, part of a national investigation that found multiple politicians were betting on races they were involved in, violating Kalshi’s rules against trading on insider information.
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Buckhout is the GOP nominee for the state’s 1st Congressional District, taking on Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Don Davis in a rematch of their 2024 general-election contest.
Buckhout told WRAL she was betting on herself to win, unaware that doing so violated Kalshi’s policies. “I bet on myself. Literally,” she said in a written statement. “It was a dumb mistake, and as soon as I learned there was an issue, I worked to make it right. Safe to say my career as a Kalshi trader was short-lived.”
Kalshi noted that Buckhout cooperated with its investigators as part of its probe into political insider trading. Multiple other politicians around the country were found out, including former U.S. Rep. George Santos, a Republican from New York, whom the platform banned for life, in addition to a penalty of more than $70,000. Buckhout’s three-year ban and fine of $2,589.96 were considerably smaller. Santos wrote on social media Monday that “Kalshi is such an unserious company.”
"Buckhout cooperated with the inquiry into this trading activity and has agreed to resolve this matter by accepting their conclusions, paying a financial penalty, and agreeing to a restriction from trading on the exchange,” Kalshi wrote in announcing the disciplinary action.
A Kalshi executive told WRAL in an interview last week that the company puts a strong focus on rooting out insider trades to increase public confidence in the platform.
“We have robust protection, security, surveillance in place to make sure that it isn't happening,” Sara Lang, the company’s head of corporate development, said in an interview prior to the disclosure of Buckhout’s suspension. “Of course, there are always going to be some bad actors that slip through the cracks. But we are monitoring 24/7 consistently to make sure that if people have inside information, that they are not on our platform.”
In their previous matchup, Davis won the 1st district in 2024 with 49.5% of the vote to Buckhout’s 47.8%. Republican state lawmakers later redrew the district to be more favorable to Republicans, starting this year.
Their 2026 rematch is being closely watched nationally. Beyond being the closest U.S. House race in North Carolina this year, it’s also expected to be one of the most competitive anywhere in the country. Both parties are expected to pour millions of dollars into the race since it could help decide who controls Congress next year.
Davis said in a written statement Monday that the revelation about Buckhout’s trading activities was “a disqualifying breach of public trust.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a national group focused on contested U.S. House races including the NC-01 race, said Monday that politicians shouldn’t be using their campaigns to enrich themselves. “If Buckhout can’t be trusted to follow the most basic prediction market rules, there is no chance she can be trusted as an ethical representative for North Carolina families,” the group wrote.
As of Monday, Kalshi bettors predict Davis will win reelection despite the map having been re-drawn to favor a Republican. Buckhout was favored as recently as July 26, according to Kalshi records, but Davis is currently seen as having a more than 60% chance of winning.
