There's no question that this is only going to push back the legal sports betting push in Texas. Matter of fact, it's going to complicate the gambling efforts as a whole. That's because in some pretty eye-opening news, a political candidate in Texas was banned by Kalshi for online betting. You've got to be kidding at this point. That's right, someone bet on their own election and it has people talking.

According to The Texas Tribune, GOP candidate Zeke Enriquez was caught red-handed using Kalshi to bet on the outcome of the very same election he was running in. Obviously, that's something that's not allowed and while the prediction market outlet has been under fire in the Lone Star State for being in operation there, they are being applauded for taking a hard stance. Per the Texas Tribune, Enriquez has been banned for five years on Kalshi.

“Cases like these demonstrate Kalshi’s commitment to policing all types of unfair or improper trading on our platform,” Bobby DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, said in a statement. “Regardless of the size of a trade, political candidates who can influence a market based on whether they stay in or out of a race violate our rules. No matter how small the size of the trade, any trade that is found to have violated our exchange rules will be punished.”

Texas wasn't the only state hit with this kind of online betting activity, as suspensions were also handed out by Kalshi for political candidates in Virginia and Minnesota. This appears to be a growing issue for Kalshi and other markets, which is why they are doing their best to make sure similar wagers don't come in down the road. It will be interesting to see if they are successful with that, but this is certainly a rough look for Texas, no doubt about that.

This latest online betting scandal could hurt the Texas efforts moving forward

It goes without saying, but this latest online betting scandal could hurt the Texas betting efforts moving forward. A major concern for lawmakers in the state has been that in-person betting and online betting could lead to gambling addiction. Even more, people don't like the idea of sports wagers being placed on college teams and college players. So, how do things look when two college employees at the state's largest university get in trouble for this?

Yeah, not good at all. Looking to the future, Texas has been eyeing things potentially getting cleared up in late 2027 when legislature meets again. If all goes to plan, and things do get passed, then early 2028 could be a realistic timeline for things to get over the line. However, with so much opposition for legal sports betting, no one is holding their breath there.

And with yet another Texas betting scandal arriving, it's not going to help. It's bad enough that prediction markets as a whole are causing issues in the state, but when this kind of an update arrives, it truly does make things worse. Greg Abbott can't be happy about this, as the Texas Governor continues to voice his displeasure with betting as a whole. Yup, this is just a major negative for the state.

NBA betting will keep being a problem for Texas throughout the playoffs

Looking at things as a whole, don't forget that NBA betting will keep being a problem for Texas throughout the playoffs. Despite things being illegal, the betting prediction markets are being used, with plenty of local citizens placing their bets on the San Antonio Spurs, who are in a series with the Portland Trail Blazers.

On Sunday, the Spurs took down Portland with no issues, going up 3-1 in the series. That means that San Antonio is now one win away from moving on to the next round, which will surely raise their NBA futures odds to potentially win it all. The Spurs are no strangers to title success, as people all over Texas are keeping a close eye on the squad.

While this is great news for local businesses and hoops fans, it doesn't take away from the fact that illegal betting will be on the rise, while countless bets will be made through Kalshi and others. Soon enough, we'll get some clarity on things, but unregulated sports betting is yet another massive problem for the state and Abbott needs to keep this in mind moving forward.