Gambling tax backlash
Support is growing to repeal a law in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) which decreases the tax deduction limit on gambling losses.
possibility of being taxed despite having a losing year
The OBBB, passed at the beginning of this month, allows gamblers to only deduct 90% of losses from their tax liability, causing a widespread backlash from bettors who were opened up to the possibility of being taxed despite having a losing year.
Now, a new act to overturn the tax deductions is gathering bipartisan support and could offer a glimmer of hope for both recreational gamblers and professionals who see their livelihoods threatened.
Popular support
Nevada Rep. Dina Titus was particularly critical of the gambling tax aspects of the OBBB, and spent the last days of the bill’s passage attempting to remove the deduction limit changes.
After the bill was passed, Titus proposed the FAIR BET Act to overturn the changes, which has attracted significant bipartisan support.
Now, Titus has announced two more co-sponsors for the bill – Representatives Darren Soto of Florida and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, both Democrats – have signed on.
In an interview with Newsweek, Titus stated the support to overturn the tax changes had garnered a huge amount of support, saying: “We’ve certainly heard from the industry, they’ve all kind of now gotten on board.
“I can tell you that we put out a lot of messages about that big, bad BS bill and we talked about Medicaid, we talked about food stamps, we talked about renewable energy, but this issue has gotten ten times the response than any of those have.”
I don’t think it’s just limited to the people directly impacted by gaming in Nevada. It’s a national issue.”
“I think it’s people who are on the internet, I think it’s young people who found an issue that they can kind of identify with. And I don’t think it’s just limited to the people directly impacted by gaming in Nevada. It’s a national issue because now everybody can gamble on their phone, and so they’re writing in, they’re texting in, they’re calling in to say, ’We should fix this.’”
Bipartisan support?
The chances of the bill being passed remain to be seen, and while there is bipartisan support, it has leaned heavily towards the Democratic side for now. However, there has been little advocacy in favor of the specific changes to gambling taxes, which were a surprise inclusion on the OBBB.
Elsewhere, Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who is leading the fight against the changes in the Senate, told professional poker player and content creator Doug Polk that the new laws were “budget gimmickry” and had no support among Republicans.
“I think it caught Republicans off guard. Had we known this was happening, I think we could have stopped it ahead of time.”
So far, Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas and Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey are the only Republicans who have signed up in support of the Act. Titus, and gamblers across the US, will be hoping there are more to follow.
