Prediction market Kalshi suspended North Carolina Republican House candidate Laurie Buckhout for three years and imposed a $2,589.96 penalty after finding she bought less than $1,000 of contracts on her own congressional race. Buckhout launched her campaign in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District in December 2025 and was running against Democratic Rep. Don Davis. Kalshi said her status as a candidate made her a direct decision maker over the outcome, prohibited from trading under Rule 5.17(z). The settlement took effect Friday, and the exchange said Buckhout cooperated with its inquiry. Kalshi has also penalized at least three other candidates for betting on their own contests, while permanently banning former Rep. George Santos and fining him $71,356 for trades tied to his attendance at the State of the Union address and his failure to cooperate. The case comes as Kalshi, a CFTC (U.S. derivatives regulator)-regulated exchange, and crypto-native rival Polymarket have recorded billions of dollars in volume over the past year and faced broader scrutiny over election and event-based trading. Buckhout won the Republican primary in March and is set to face Davis in a rematch after losing to him in 2024 by less than two percentage points. The Cook Political Report rates the redrawn district as leaning Republican.