Kalshi, a prediction market, suspended and fined three political candidates who it says bet on their own races. While one apologized, another said he got caught on purpose to showcase flaws in the betting platform.
These candidates were identified as Ezekiel Enriquez of Texas, Mark Moran of Virginia and Matt Klein of Minnesota via documents posted on Kalshi’s website.
Enriquez ran for a U.S. House of Representatives seat in the Texas Republican primary election and ultimately came in 11th place. Moran is currently running as an independent in Virginia’s primary election for U.S. Senate. Klein, currently a state senator, is a candidate in Minnesota’s Democratic U.S. House primary.
All three were banned from using Kalshi for five years.
“Just like in traditional financial markets, bad actors will try to cheat,” Robert DeNault, the head of enforcement and legal counsel for Kalshi, said in a statement Wednesday. “Regulated exchanges must constantly evolve and adapt their systems to address insider threats.”
Regulated exchanges are authorized by the federal government to levy fines on individuals or organizations that violate their rules.
In Klein’s and Enriquez’s case, they tried to bet small amounts of money on the outcome of their elections, Kalshi said. They both settled, with Klein agreeing to pay $539.85, and Enriquez agreeing to a $784.20 fine.
Klein apologized on X, saying he heard about the wagers on his primary race from friends in October 2025. Before that, he said, he’d never wagered on a prediction market.
“I was curious about how it worked,” Klein said, so he set up an account, betting $50 he would win the primary. “…This was a mistake, and I apologize. My experience, like many other Minnesotans, points to the need for clearer rules and regulations for these types of markets.”
Brandon Beckhardt, Kalshi’s growth operations lead, quoted-tweeted Klein’s statement, saying he appreciated the state senator for “acknowledging his mistake and taking responsibility for it.”
“People make mistakes; it happens. This isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last,” Beckhardt said. “Our job as a regulated exchange is to catch these issues, resolve them, and improve things going forward.”
Klein is co-sponsoring a bill in the Minnesota Legislature that bans most betting on predictive markets, including ones on the outcome of elections. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said he doesn’t think there’s an inconsistency between his actions on Kalshi and his sponsoring of the bill.
Meanwhile, Kalshi alleged that Moran traded in two markets connected to his campaign. One of them was a wager on who would run for public office in 2026, in which he bet on himself. Moran, Kalshi said, then traded again on his own candidacy once he announced he was campaigning for the U.S. Senate.
When Kalshi contacted Moran, it said, he acknowledged breaking the platform’s rules but later stopped communicating with its team. He was fined $6,229.30.
On X, Moran admitted to betting around $100 on himself with Kalshi — but said it’s because he wanted to get caught to highlight “how this company is destroying young men.”
After meeting with Kalshi’s compliance team in February, their first offer to Moran was a one-year ban and a fine, he said. Under these terms, Moran said, he was also compelled to make a public statement.
He refused to do this, as “the First Amendment safeguards both the right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking,” Moran said. Kalshi then increased their settlement, but Moran said this was just to “take pressure off themselves and act like they are enforcing regulations.”
DeNault said in his statement that regardless of a trade’s size, political candidates who can influence a market based on if they stay in or out of a race violate Kalshi’s rules.
“No matter how small the size of the trade, any trade that is found to have violated our exchange rules will be punished,” DeNault said.
Round out your reading
- Work for food: New SNAP rules reshaping who gets to eat.
- How Iranians actually feel about regime change and war.
- Feds warn that Russians may hack your internet router. Why?
- The truth behind a medical condition that never existed.
- We’re building a new Straight Arrow. Help us shape our future by taking our survey.