Kalshi permanently bans George Santos over State of the Union bets
Prediction market Kalshi permanently banned former Representative George Santos from its platform on Monday, August 31, 2026, and fined him $71,356 for bets related to the State of the Union. The action followed investigations into his wagers on attending the address. Kalshi imposed the penalty without waiting for regulatory action, continuing its pattern of platform-level enforcement against politically connected traders.
Santos is the third politically connected trader Kalshi has expelled in rapid sequence, after House teleprompter operator Perez and N.C. candidate Buckhout. Elected officials and federal staffers with advance knowledge now face exile before regulators even file. Competitors like Polymarket and ForecastEx must match this surveillance speed or become the soft venue the CFTC singles out next.
Each new ban raises the cost of delay: platforms without similar detection look negligent by comparison. Kalshi's three-case enforcement arc gives Washington a concrete template to replicate. The $71,356 penalty and lifetime bar set the standard for what platform self-policing must look like in political markets.