Rep. Dina Titus, D-NV, tried to attach her legislation that would change the new gambling tax provisions in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill to the National Defense Authorization Act.
The Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives did not accept the FAIR BET Act as an amendment. Titus filed the bill in July after Trump’s spending bill passed.
After it was passed, those in the gambling industry discovered the bill made major changes to the tax code. Those changes sparked concern from poker players and other gamblers.
For what seems like forever, gamblers were able to deduct 100% of their losses on the tax return. However, the new bill only allows 90% of a gambler’s losses to get written off. As a result, gamblers could pay taxes on money they didn’t win.
For example, a poker player wins a tournament for $100,000 in January. Then, over the course of the year, he loses $100,000 playing other tournaments.
That gambler did not have any taxable winnings. But under the new provisions, the player could only write off 90% of the $100,000 in losses. Thus, the government would expect payment as if the player won $10,000.
In response, Titus filed the FAIR BET Act. It stands for Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation. It would roll back the provisions that only allow gamblers to write off 90% of their losses.
Unless something changes, the new tax rules will go into effect at the start of 2026. Consequently, Titus tried to attach her bill to the National Defense Authorization Act as an amendment.
Unfortunately, the GOP-controlled Rules Committee did not accept the FAIR BET Act as an amendment to the NDAA. This was an easy fix that should have been adopted. Nonetheless, I will continue to build support to restore the 100% gambling loss deduction.
— Dina Titus (@repdinatitus) September 9, 2025
Titus Remains Hopeful
Attaching her bill to the defense bill as an amendment would’ve guaranteed its passage and eliminate the time crunch she’ll inevitably deal with trying to pass a bill in the last four months of the year.
It wouldn’t have been the first time an influential gambling bill was slipped into a different piece of legislation as an amendment. In 2006, Sen. Bill Frist and Sen. Jon Kyle attached the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into the Safe Port Act.
The UIGEA was one of the pieces of legislation used to prosecute online poker operators when the U.S. government cracked down on the industry in April 2011.
Now, Titus must pass the legislation as a standalone bill. That’s a much tougher task.
“That was an easy fix that should have been adopted,” Titus wrote on Twitter. “Nonetheless, I will continue to build support to restore 100% gambling loss deduction.”
Her bill received bipartisan support after leaders in the casino industry and poker players sounded the alarm on the issue.
Rep. Andy Barr, R-KY, introduced the Winnings and Gains Expense Restoration (WAGER) Act to repeal the OBBB tax provision. The bill was referred to the House Ways and Means committee.
Prediction market website Kalshi event offers a market on whether the gambling taxes will revert back. Those believing the provision would be repealed topped out at 68% on July 27%. As of Thursday morning, that number dropped to just 22%.
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