Candidate Trading Own Election Contracts Faces Penalties, Davis Proposal Seeks Legislative Ban

Odaily News: U.S. Democratic Representative Don Davis of North Carolina introduced the "Ban on Betting on Your Own Election Act" on Monday, which seeks to prohibit candidates for federal office from trading contracts related to their own elections on prediction markets. Violators would face fines of $10,000 or 3 times the net trading profit, whichever is higher. The proposal stems from an earlier incident in which Davis's Republican campaign opponent, Laurie Buckhout, reached a settlement with a platform after trading contracts related to her own candidacy, paying a fine of slightly less than $2,600 and being suspended from using the platform for three years. Prediction market platforms had previously imposed their own restrictions on candidates trading contracts related to their own elections, and Davis hopes to write those restrictions into law; however, because the House and Senate are not scheduled to resume sessions until after the midterm elections, the proposal is almost impossible to implement during this election cycle.