Overnight Cleaner

Kalshi bans former congressman George Santos for life after State of the Union trades. Published August 31, 2026 at 3:21 PM CDT Kalshi has banned former Republican congressman George Santos for life after the prediction market company found he misled the public about whether he would attend President Trump's State of the Union address in order to make a profit on the platform. Kalshi, which has the power to impose financial penalties as part of its federal license, fined Santos $71,356. Santos responded on X: "Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform. Let's see how much longer you guys are around for." NPR first reported in June that federal authorities were investigating Santos for trades tied to a Kalshi market on who would be in attendance at the State of the Union. Days before the president's remarks, Santos posted a video on X saying, "I'm going to be there for the State of Union in the gallery, guys," only to later notify his followers that he was "watching SOTU from an airport tv." What he concealed from his social media audience was that he had already placed bets on Kalshi that he would not show up to the event. Kalshi said Santos made more than $17,000 in profit on the wagers. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates prediction markets, ordered Santos to give back those profits as part of a settlement reached with the former congressman last month. The federal regulator also fined him $17,500. Santos, 38, who has a long history of fabricating details about his life and career, was expelled from Congress, where he represented New York, in 2023. A year later, he pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and identity theft. His seven-year prison term was cut short last year after President Trump commuted his sentence. Santos, who did not return NPR's requests for comment, made violent threats against this reporter after NPR first reported on his State of the Union bets. Before his State of the Union activity was known, Santos was a paid promoter of Polymarket, Kalshi's main rival. The company cut ties with Santos after federal investigators launched the probe into his betting. Congressional and gubernatorial candidates also suspended from Kalshi after betting on their own races. Kalshi announced several other disciplinary actions on Monday against political candidates who bet on their own campaigns. Laurie Buckhout, a Republican Congressional candidate in North Carolina, was issued a fine and suspended from the site for three years after wagering on her own race. In a statement, Buckhout said: "I bet on myself. Literally. It was a dumb mistake, and as soon as I learned there was an issue, I worked to make it right. Safe to say my career as a Kalshi trader was short-lived." The company also suspended for three years and fined billionaire Stephen Cloobeck, the founder of the timeshare company Diamond Resorts, saying he bet $10,000 on his now-abandoned bid for governor of California. A representative for Cloobeck did not return a request for comment. And former Planet Fitness president Ben Midgley, who ran to be Maine's Republican candidate for governor this year but was defeated, was found by Kalshi to have also placed money on his own candidacy. He also received a three-year suspension and was hit with a financial penalty. Midgley also did not respond to a request for comment. Kalshi's spate of crackdowns comes after regulators in Washington announced a settlement with President Trump's former teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, for using advance notice of the president's speeches to profit on so-called "mention markets" on Kalshi. As part of the deal, Perez was forced to give back more than $100,000 he made by placing lucrative bets on Trump's famously unpredictable choice of words. Perez was fined an additional $65,000, a sum regulators said was arrived at after he fully cooperated with the investigation. Since the Trump administration has few guardrails on the booming prediction market industry, the platforms are largely tasked with policing themselves. Federal authorities have criminally charged some traders suspected of using insider information to profit on sites, but the cases have mostly started with referrals from Kalshi and its main competitor, Polymarket. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sued several states that have tried to treat prediction market sites as a form of gambling, a type of legal offensive the agency has never before embarked on. The debate about whether the prediction market industry should be regulated as gambling or a type of financial investment product is playing out in federal courts in a fight that pits the platforms and the Trump administration against state regulators. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit delivered Kalshi a blow by ruling that Nevada had a right to ban the site as an illegal gambling operation. The decision created a split with a ruling earlier this year from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in a similar dispute that sided with Kalshi. The Supreme Court will likely have the final say over the legal status of prediction markets. Last month, 44 states signed a letter to the Trump administration arguing that prediction market operators prey on young people and those who have a propensity for gambling addiction. "These for-profit prediction markets are a new form of casino used primarily for a few to manipulate others - the type of harms squarely within States' historic police powers to regulate gambling," the letter stated.

Fitness is splitting into winners and losers - which side are you on? From Planet Fitness lawsuits to Basic-Fit's profit comeback, the industry is rewarding operators who get community and hybrid right - here's what to do now. Sqwod · 28 Aug 2026 The market is handing out report cards. The fitness industry is sorting itself out in real time, and the grades are brutal. Planet Fitness is facing a class action lawsuit with a deadline flagged by Kaplan Fox, per The Globe and Mail - a reminder that investor confidence in big-box budget fitness is shakier than the marketing suggests. Meanwhile, Basic-Fit is building momentum with a return to profit in 2026, according to Ad-hoc-news.de. Same sector. Opposite trajectories. The difference isn't luck. The operators winning right now share two things: they've figured out community, and they've stopped treating hybrid training as a gimmick. Community isn't a vibe - It's a business model. Phillip Mills, speaking to Athletech News, made the case plainly: community is where the real power of fitness lives. Not the equipment, not the app, not the pricing tier. The feeling of belonging that makes a member renew instead of cancel. This matters more now because the competitive pressure on operators is intensifying from multiple directions. In Germany, the DSSV is pushing back against a proposed sugar drink tax that would squeeze margins at facilities where beverages are part of the revenue mix - another external cost pressure operators didn't ask for. When your margin is under attack from policy and pricing wars simultaneously, retention becomes your only real lever. And retention runs on community. The operators who treat group fitness and social programming as a cost center are reading the wrong spreadsheet. Hybrid is no longer optional infrastructure. Perform Better's approach, covered by body LIFE, puts it directly: hybrid training environments aren't a future trend - they're the product now. Operators who build spaces that work for in-person and digital-connected training are creating stickiness that a price cut can't replicate. This isn't about bolting an app onto your existing floor plan. It's about designing the experience so that a member's digital touchpoints and their physical visits reinforce each other. The DSSV is also running exclusive online seminars for its members - a small signal, but a consistent one: the professional layer of fitness is going hybrid too, not just the consumer layer. Basic-Fit's profit recovery didn't happen by accident. Operators who invest in the right infrastructure during difficult cycles tend to emerge with stronger unit economics than competitors who cut their way through. Do this now. * Community audit. Can you name the social moments in your programming that members would actually miss? If you can't, your members can't either. * Hybrid gap check. Walk your floor and ask: does this space work for someone who also trains with SqwodTM Hero Dna, LLC digitally? If the answer is no, that's a retention hole. * Margin stress test. With external cost pressures like the sugar tax debate the DSSV is tracking, what's your revenue mix resilience? If one policy change breaks your model, the model needs work. The fitness market is not collapsing - it's concentrating. Capital and members are moving toward operators who offer real belonging and real flexibility. The window to position yourself on the right side of that split is open, but it won't stay open indefinitely. Figures from public sources, as of 2026-08-28. Estimates vary between firms; SqwodTM Hero Dna, LLC link them so you can verify.

Billboard and Planet Fitness just proved what hip-hop already knew: The Atlantic coast runs on bars and grit. When Billboard and Planet Fitness teamed up to create their regional "Movement Mix" playlists, they turned to Luminate listening data to map which sounds fuel which corners of the country. The Atlantic edition, dubbed "Hustle & Grit," landed this week with a roster that reads like a who's who of East Coast hunger: Cardi B, Meek Mill, Lil Uzi Vert, and more. The concept is simple but revealing. Luminate, the music analytics platform that tracks streaming, airplay, and sales data, crunched the numbers on what the Atlantic region actually listens to when it is time to grind. The result is a curated mix that Billboard says captures everything "from New York swagger to Philly determination." The lineup tells a story. Cardi B represents the Bronx blueprint. From reality TV to rap dominance, her catalog is a masterclass in turning hustle into empire. Meek Mill carries Philadelphia's weight on every track, a city whose rap identity is built on persistence through adversity. Lil Uzi Vert, also repping Philly, brings the chaotic energy that makes the younger generation feel invincible in the gym or on the block. These are not random playlist picks. They are data-confirmed anthems for a region that treats ambition like a personality trait. Why this matters to the culture. For years, hip-hop has been the default soundtrack of athletic motivation, workout culture, and personal drive. Nike knows it. The NBA knows it. Now Planet Fitness and Billboard are formalizing what every gym-goer with earbuds already understood: rap music is the engine of American hustle culture. But here is the deeper layer. When a major fitness brand partners with Billboard to use actual listening data to build regional playlists, it validates something hip-hop communities have always claimed. The music is not just entertainment. It is fuel. It is identity. It is geography. The Atlantic mix is not just "good workout music." It is a sonic map of how New York, Philadelphia, and the surrounding corridor express ambition through sound. Meek Mill's "Dreams and Nightmares" intro did not become a Philadelphia Eagles anthem by accident. Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" did not become a feminist rallying cry by coincidence. These records resonate because they carry real stories of climbing from nothing. The business of motivation music. The Billboard and Planet Fitness partnership also signals a growing trend: brands aligning with hip-hop not as decoration but as data-driven strategy. Luminate's analytics give the collaboration credibility beyond typical corporate playlist curation. This is not a marketing intern picking songs. This is listener behavior shaping the product. For artists, placement on playlists like "Hustle & Grit" means streams, visibility, and cultural reinforcement. For the community, it means the music that soundtracks real life is finally being measured and respected on those terms. The takeaway: The Atlantic coast has always run on bars and grit. Now there is a playlist, and data, to prove it. Check the full "Hustle & Grit" Movement Mix on Billboard. The Hip Hop Democrat · Since 2008 The Monday Morning Brief One email, every Monday. The hip-hop and political stories worth your time, curated by the longest-running digital platform at the intersection.