This is a discussion from WIRED's Uncanny Valley podcast examining how prediction markets are increasingly landing users in legal and regulatory trouble. The episode centres on two cases: former US congressman George Santos received Kalshi's first-ever lifetime ban from the platform, while a Google engineer has been accused of insider trading on Polymarket. Hosts argue these incidents expose how unclear the rules still are around betting on real-world events, an industry that has grown rapidly but remains only loosely regulated.

Santos, who was expelled from Congress in 2023 and later jailed over fraud and theft charges, was banned by Kalshi and fined $71,000 (roughly £56,000) after allegedly trying to manipulate a bet on whether he would attend Donald Trump's State of the Union address. Separately, a Google engineer accused of insider trading on Polymarket has claimed he was simply gambling rather than exploiting privileged information. The same episode also touches on unrelated tech stories, including WIRED's investigation into Flock's AI-powered surveillance search tool used by police and growing online debate over AI agents acting outside their intended guardrails.