Scratchy

What is Scratchy?

Former US congressman George Santos has been permanently prohibited from trading on the prediction market Kalshi, the company announced late last week. 

Friday’s announcement followed an investigation that found he manipulated contract prices linked to his anticipated attendance at the 2026 State of the Union address.

He was also fined $71,356.

What is Scratchy?

“If the tax burden alone makes it impossible to establish the occupation of slot machine operators as the economic basis of one’s livelihood within the municipality,” the ruling said. 

Braun also argued that the public had been excluded from the preparatory finance committee meeting without justification.

But the court said that point did not affect the validity of the by-law, adding that it saw no evidence of a tax that would choke businesses. 

What is Scratchy?

“Both the Third Circuit and the District of New Jersey side with Kalshi, because the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction prompt state law,” Lever said, adding that “nothing in New Jersey’s filing” changes that view.

Each Supreme Court term begins on the first Monday in October and runs through late June or early July. The court typically receives about 7,000-8,000 writ petitions and grants about 80, or 1%, each term. Four of the nine sitting justices must vote to accept a case. Five current justices – Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor – were on the bench in 2018 for the PASPA case.

There are no SCOTUS-prediction market contracts currently on Kalshi but Polymarket lists a 41% probability that the court will accept an event contract case by 31 December.