Former Congressman George Santos has been banned from Kalshi for life

NPR | Aug 31

Former Congressman George Santos has been banned from the prediction market site Kalshi for life. The betting site announced several enforcement actions against suspected insider traders.

Kalshi says George Santos received the lifetime ban after he failed to cooperate with its investigation. The company found that Santos shared social media posts about how excited he was to attend Trump's State of the Union earlier this year, and, at the same time, he was placing bets on Kalshi that he would not be attending.

In response, Santos posted on X: "Thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform. Let's see how much longer you guys are around for."

Kalshi also announced actions against a North Carolina Congressional candidate, Laurie Buckhout, who wagered on her own campaign, and against billionaire Stephen Cloobeck, who bet on his now-abandoned run for governor of California.

The crackdown comes as election integrity experts fear that prediction markets could create chaos this coming November.

An NPR editor adapted this audio report by Bobby Allyn.

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