Published on: December 3, 2025, 12:00 PM.
Updated on: December 3, 2025, 12:07 PM.
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<li><strong>Tax deductions for gambling losses against winnings are set to see a reduction in the upcoming year</strong></li>
<li><strong>Nevada legislators are pushing to reinstate the wagering tax deduction to 100%</strong></li>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Professional poker players, sports gamblers, and those whose livelihoods depend on casinos are expressing heightened concern that a remedy to a tax adjustment in the Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill” may not materialize.</span></p>
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<img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-369673" src="https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/shutterstock_582345988-858x572.jpg" alt="Professional poker players and IRS gambling tax" width="858" height="572" srcset="https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/shutterstock_582345988-858x572.jpg 858w, https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/shutterstock_582345988-430x287.jpg 430w, https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/shutterstock_582345988-302x200.jpg 302w, https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/shutterstock_582345988-238x158.jpg 238w, https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/shutterstock_582345988-194x128.jpg 194w, https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/shutterstock_582345988.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 858px) 100vw, 858px"/>
<figcaption id="caption-attachment-369673" class="text-description">Many professional poker players, like those attending the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas each year, are likely facing decreased tax deductions in the next tax cycle due to a wagering tax clause within the One Big Beautiful Bill endorsed by President Donald Trump. (Image: Shutterstock)</figcaption>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The tax policy signed into law on July 4 by President Donald Trump slashed the allowable deduction of gambling losses for individual filers from 100% to 90%. This alteration means a person winning $100,000 in a tax year but also losing $100,000 gambling would owe federal taxes on $10,000.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">US Representative Dina Titus (D-NV) introduced the FAIR Bet Act, or “Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation Act,” aiming to restore the tax deduction to its original 100%. The legislation has garnered bipartisan support from 21 sponsors, yet the House Ways and Means Committee has declined to review the proposal.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">With fewer than 30 days remaining before the wagering tax changes take effect, concerns among professional gamblers are escalating.</span></p>
<h2 class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Professional Gamblers Confront Unfair Taxation</b></span></h2>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Typically, the IRS allows businesses to deduct their expenses when calculating taxable income. Professional gamblers who itemize their deductions contend that the One Big Beautiful Bill imposes an unfair burden on them by taxing illusory income they did not actually retain by year-end.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">David Kaye, an online poker player with a following of 21.8K on Twitch, mentions that he’s exploring new job opportunities unless the tax legislation is amended.</span></p>
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<img decoding="async" class="wp-image-369674" src="https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.09.03%E2%80%AFPM-430x288.png" alt="Professional poker player discussing IRS gambling tax" width="608" height="407" srcset="https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.09.03 PM-430x288.png 430w, https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.09.03 PM-238x158.png 238w, https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.09.03 PM.png 594w" sizes="(max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px"/>
<figcaption id="caption-attachment-369674" class="text-description">(Image: X)</figcaption>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“If the gambling tax modification of 2026 is not revoked, I will abstain from playing online poker next year,” Kaye articulated on X. He provided insights on how the One Big Beautiful Bill wagering tax would potentially affect him through a theoretical example.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Blaise Bourgeois, a poker competitor who secured ninth place in the Aria Poker Classic $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em tournament this past June, warned that the “Big Sh**ty Ass Bill endangers volume-based poker players/gamblers who operate on small margins.”</span></p>
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-369675" src="https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.48.30%E2%80%AFPM-430x312.png" alt="" width="735" height="533" srcset="https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.48.30 PM-430x312.png 430w, https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.48.30 PM.png 596w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px"/>
<figcaption id="caption-attachment_369675" class="text-description">(Image: X)</figcaption>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Rufus Peabody, a professional sports bettor and co-founder of Unabated Sports, argues that the tax adjustment aims to penalize losing gamblers as well.</span></p>
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-369678" src="https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.20.33%E2%80%AFPM-430x359.png" alt="" width="667" height="557" srcset="https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.20.33 PM-430x359.png 430w, https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-03-at-12.20.33 PM.png 589w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 667px) 100vw, 667px"/>
<figcaption id="caption-attachment-369678" class="text-description">(Image: X)</figcaption>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Individuals may incur losses in gambling yet still have a tax liability,” Peabody remarked on X.</span></p>
<h2 class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>Companion Legislation in the Senate</b></span></h2>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Nevada's congressional leadership is spearheading efforts to reinstate the wagering deduction. Alongside Titus’ FAIR Bet Act, Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) are proponents of the FULL HOUSE Act, or “Facilitating Useful Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy,” with support from Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN).</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Taxing individuals on funds they do not possess will inhibit the tourism industry in states like Nevada, drive poker events abroad, and push betting into unauthorized, unregulated territories. There is bipartisan consensus to remedy this error; it’s time for my colleagues from both parties and chambers of Congress to act,” stated Cortez Masto.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Our bipartisan initiative addresses a detrimental clause … that imposes taxes on casino patrons who lose money. This is not just poor arithmetic, it’s flawed policy,” Rosen added. “Failing to correct this misguided clause could deter people from visiting casinos, negatively impacting Nevada’s tourism sector.”</span></p>