Former Democrat-turned-Independent U.S. Senate candidate Mark Moran is being fined and banned by betting platform Kalshi for wagering on his own candidacy. In Pete Rose-style fashion, Moran — who initially planned to challenge U.S. Sen. Mark Warner as a Democrat before later becoming an independent — violated insider-trading and market-manipulation rules for prediction markets, according to Kalshi.
In a report released Wednesday, Kalshi said that Moran placed a bet on the Virginia Senate race in November, before he officially jumped into the race in January. Kalshi’s report says that Moran placed additional trades days after joining the race and promoted the market on social media.
Kalshi’s report states that Moran admitted to the wrongdoing before cutting off communication with the betting organization.
Moran said in a social media post containing contradictory statements that he was trying to get caught.
“YES, I did bet ~$100 on myself on Kalshi because I wanted to get caught,” he wrote.
Moran then said that he placed the $100 bet, “knowing this would happen (also knowing that I wouldn’t be vying for the democratic nomination).”
If this is true, Moran admitted that he knew in November, three months before formally announcing his campaign for the Democratic nomination, that he would not be running as a Democrat.
Moran confirmed to Virginia Scope in December that he was planning to run against Warner as a Democrat.
Kalshi fined Moran $6,229.30 and banned him from using the platform for five years.
Moran also tried to defend himself by saying he talked to Kalshi’s “Head of Politics” about adding him to the platform.
Kalshi does not prohibit candidates from placing bets generally, but it bars them from trading in markets tied to races they can influence.
“If a Trader is a decision maker, either directly or indirectly, or has any influence, directly or indirectly, no matter the scale and importance of the influence, on the outcome of the Underlying (event) of any Contract, that Trader is prohibited from attempting to enter into any trade, either directly or indirectly, on the market in such Contracts,” Kalshi said in its report.