shots with CNN showing that he wagered a total of $669 and netted $823.

 It was a dumb bet, to bet on myself,  Kinzinger said.  Looking back, I'm like, yeah, I wish I'd have skipped it. But everything I saw at the time was like, you're within your right to bet on this. 

He also denied that he engaged in insider trading, primarily because he says he did not have any advance knowledge of the pardons and did not discuss potential pardons with the Biden White House. He said he hasn't heard from any government investigators.

 At no point, ever, had I had a conversation with anybody in the know about pardons (or) whether I'd get pardoned,  Kinzinger said.  Certainly, nobody in the White House or anybody that would know anything. 

Kalshi also uncovered Kinzinger's trades during a broader look into  suspicious  activity and flagged them to the CFTC, another person familiar with the matter said.

The source said Kalshi tried to get in touch with Kinzinger, but he did not respond. It's common for Kalshi to try to internally settle its probes when small amounts of money are involved and when the trader cooperates. Kinzinger told CNN he never heard from Kalshi.

Calls for more regulation

Prediction platforms have exploded in popularity this year and now see billions of dollars in weekly trading volume. But as they've grown, so have calls for more regulation.

Last month, Kalshi fined several political candidates for betting on their own campaigns, violating the company's insider-trading rules.

The CFTC also recently settled a case with the former Trump White House teleprompter operator for  unlawful  bets on Kalshi about what Trump would say in his speeches. And they settled with former Rep. George Santos for improper trades about whether he would attend the State of the Union.

A bipartisan coalition of 44 states have urged the CFTC to rein in prediction platforms. So have dozens of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who are backing legislation that would stiffen penalties against insider trading.

Among those who want more regulation is Kinzinger himself. He wrote in a November 2025 Substack post that Kalshi and other prediction sites are a  corruption time bomb  and a  threat to democracy  because politicians can profit from insider knowledge.

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