00:00Politicians are literally betting money on their own elections, and that might be a bigger problem than it sounds.
00:06So here's what's happening.
00:07Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi let you bet real money on future events, including who wins elections.
00:14This week, Kalshi suspended three political candidates for wagering on their own races and called it political insider trading.
00:20And here's why that matters.
00:21A candidate knows things no ordinary bettor does, like when they're planning to drop out or how their campaign is
00:28really going.
00:28And it's not just elected officials, either.
00:30Federal prosecutors just arrested a U.S. Army Master Sergeant who allegedly used classified information to bet on Maduro's capture.
00:38He allegedly wagered $33,000 while helping plan the mission and then walked away with $400,000 when it happened.
00:45The Justice Department calls it the first insider trading case of its kind involving a prediction market.
00:50And that's exactly what critics in Congress and among state attorneys general warned about, that anyone with insider access can
00:57cash in.
00:58They say the fines against these three candidates were tiny, nothing was actually illegal, and self-regulation clearly isn't enough.
01:06But supporters in the prediction market industry disagree, pointing to Kalshi catching and punishing these candidates on their own as
01:12proof that the system works.
01:14Federal law still hasn't caught up.
01:16No rule explicitly makes any of this illegal, but as we've seen, states and lawmakers are starting to push back.
01:22So should politicians and soldiers be banned from prediction markets entirely?
01:26Drop your take in the comments, read the full story on our website, and follow us here for more.
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