Ashley Hinson has been pushing to limit insider trading on Capitol Hill on prediction markets. A recent reports show that the largest players in the growing industry have taken an interest in funding her campaign.
In March, the Iowa congresswoman sponsored bipartisan legislation to ban federal officials from placing bets on prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.
“I can’t think of anything swampier than Members of Congress or other federal officials using insider knowledge to gamble on prediction markets,” Hinson wrote on X.
Campaign finance records show that in May, Hinson accepted a $7,000 contribution from Tarek Mansour, the CEO of Kalshi, one of the largest prediction market platforms in the country. The donation lands as Kalshi is actively fighting Iowa in court.
In March, the company filed a preemptive federal lawsuit against Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission after Bird signaled she believed Kalshi’s event contracts constituted illegal gambling under state law. Iowa lawmakers also advanced legislation that would have required Kalshi to obtain a state license and pay a 20% revenue tax—a bill that failed to pass before the legislature adjourned.
State Sen. Dan Dawson framed the stakes plainly at a legislative forum in March: a 19-year-old can’t walk into an Iowa casino and bet on an NFL game, but that same teenager can place an equivalent contract on Kalshi.
Hinson, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, is running in a competitive general election against Democratic nominee Josh Turek.
