Kalshi fines, suspends Texas politician for betting on his own election

A Texas congressional candidate and two other politicians in other states have been fined and suspended from prediction market Kalshi for trading on their own races, the company said Wednesday.

Zeke Enriquez traded less than $100 on his own candidacy, according to Kalshi's regulatory documents. Enriquez was fined $784 by Kalshi and was suspended from the platform for five years after an investigation.

Enriquez finished 11th in the Republican primary for Texas' 21st Congressional District with 1.4% of the vote.

What they're saying:

"Our systems screened the person and saw that he was trying to trade on his own election. We preemptively blocked the trader and ran a full investigation," Kalshi said. "When we contacted the trader, he was fully cooperative with the investigation and agreed to settle, acknowledging the rule violation."

Politicians in Minnesota, Virginia also banned from platform

Two other political candidates, Democrats in Minnesota and Virginia, were also fined and suspended from Kalshi for trading on their own elections.

Kalshi called the cases "political insider trading."

What they're saying:

"Just like in traditional financial markets, bad actors will try to cheat," Kalshi said. "Regulated exchanges must constantly evolve and adapt their systems to address insider threats. These three cases are an example of how developing proactive engineering solutions can help identify illicit trading activity."

Patrick looks to close loophole allowing prediction markets in Texas

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick already has his sights set on blocking prediction markets like Kalshi from operating in the state.

As part of Patrick's interim charges ahead of the next legislative session, he directed the State Affairs Committee to look for ways to close the loopholes that allow prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket to operate in Texas despite the state's general ban on gambling.