Look out gamblers

[Wrestleknownothing]

A late change to the Big Beautiful Bill (I chuckle every time) reduced the deduction for gambling loses to 90% from 100%.

Say you won $5k and lost $5k over the course of the year. Previously you would have no reportable net income. Now you will have $500 in taxable income, even though you had no income.

My guess is that most casual gamblers do not report either wins or loses on their taxes, so this can seem like a so what.

But in the case of an audit you should expect them to look at your online gambling history and hit you with a bill and a fine.

[fishbane]

This would essentially shut down gambling as a profession.  What game is a 10% player edge possible?

The casino industry must be freaking out.  I guess you can still report net winnings per gambling session.  For example  if you play two $1000 hands of black jack winning one and losing the other you'd had $0 taxable income.  Do the same thing a month apart and that's $100 in taxable income. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

6 hours ago, fishbane said:

This would essentially shut down gambling as a profession.  What game is a 10% player edge possible?

The casino industry must be freaking out.  I guess you can still report net winnings per gambling session.  For example  if you play two $1000 hands of black jack winning one and losing the other you'd had $0 taxable income.  Do the same thing a month apart and that's $100 in taxable income. 

Even worse for sports betting. Every bet is considered a session. 

Nevada federal legislators are crafting a new bill to try to overturn this element. 

[fishbane]

15 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Even worse for sports betting. Every bet is considered a session. 

Nevada federal legislators are crafting a new bill to try to overturn this element. 

That's true, but when session was defined it was all about reporting and didn't have any impact on writing off losses.  The IRS could adjust that definition without new legislation to give some relief to sports gamblers, but it wouldn't matter much overall.  I would think that at least multiple bets on the same sporting event should count as 1 session, but then again these bets are often made weeks apart.  Bet a long shot to win the Superbowl in the preseason when the odds are long and then when they actually make it to the big game place a hedge on their opposition.  

[Caveira]

Got from fb.  So may or may not be true 

Hellmuth Says Ted Cruz Aiming to Stop ‘Poker Players Death Tax’
Poker Hall of Famer Phil Hellmuth has revealed he’s been in direct contact with Senator Ted Cruz (R), saying he is "fighting to eliminate" controversial changes to gambling deductions included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB).

The 17-time bracelet winner took to X to share that he had spoken with Cruz, the lead Republican on the bill, who is now working to "fix the changes in deducting gambling losses in the OBBB."

Passed earlier this month, the bill includes an amendment that permanently caps gambling loss deductions at 90 percent of winnings. The move has alarmed much of the poker community, with many warning it could jeopardize the long-term viability of the game in the U.S.

High-profile pros including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Galfond, Doug Polk, and Hellmuth himself have all spoken out against the amendment, warning that it could severely impact professional players and pose an existential threat to the future of poker.

Hellmuth, who referred to the bill as the "Poker Players Death Tax," added that "Senator Cruz loves poker and is trying to save poker and the poker world."
Republican Senators Block Gambling Tax Reversal
However, despite Senator Cruz’s apparent support for rolling back the amendment, his Republican colleagues are not yet on board. On Thursday, Senate Republicans blocked an attempt to reverse the tax hike on professional gamblers.

The effort, led by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D) of Nevada, sought unanimous consent to pass a bill that would restore the full 100 percent deduction on gambling losses, with the industry vital to Nevada's tourism and gaming economy.

However, the proposal was blocked by Senator Todd Young (R) of Indiana.

“This is a Republican piece of legislation that is actually causing people to pay taxes on money they lost. It makes no sense at all,” said Cortez Masto.

“I’m disappointed, but I’m not done,” she added.

Ray Kondler of Kondler CPA, a Las Vegas-based firm specializing in gambling taxation, told PokerNews he expects the “Big Beautiful Bill” could “have a major effect on the industry” if changes are not made to its current form.
♠♣♥♦
#poker #Poker #pokernews

[Tripnsweep]

Kind of funny this happened under an administration led by somebody who bankrupted several casinos. 

[nick]

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2230 - Facilitating Useful Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy (FULL HOUSE) Act would have reinstated the previous rules for deducting wagering losses for tax purposes, however it didn't make it out

https://rollcall.com/2025/07/10/gambling-tax-repeal-bill-blocked-in-senate/

Quote

But Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., who said he supported the fix proposed by Cortez Masto, nonetheless objected unless Democrats agreed to modify their request to allow an amendment to restore a “qualified religious institution” exemption from the excise tax on university endowment income that was increased in the reconciliation law.

The law ended up raising the threshold to be subject to the endowment tax to schools with at least 3,000 tuition-paying students, though that wasn’t enough to protect the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Ind. Notre Dame, which bills itself as “inspired by its Catholic character to be a powerful force for good in the world,” would have qualified under the exemption for religious institutions.

Young said removing the religious exemption was another byproduct of the Byrd rule, which also frowns upon provisions that have only one or a small group of beneficiaries. Democrats raised the issue in the “Byrd bath” process, in which both parties are free to raise issues with the Senate parliamentarian that could run afoul of the rules and become subject to a 60-vote hurdle.

“As long as my Democratic colleagues are keen on fixing provisions” left out because of the Byrd rule, Young said, “I think it’s only fair that we fix this one as well.”

Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., objected to Young’s request to modify Cortez Masto’s UC, arguing that Young’s fix would restore a “special carve-out for one institution, just one, in his home state.”

Young replied that the provision would aid religious institutions “across the country,” not just in Indiana. But without a deal to move forward with his amendment, Young objected to Cortez Masto’s initial request to pass her bill.

 

 

There is another attempt with the Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation (FAIR BET) Act -

https://titus.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=5805

 

[Wrestleknownothing]

2 hours ago, nick said:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2230 - Facilitating Useful Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy (FULL HOUSE) Act would have reinstated the previous rules for deducting wagering losses for tax purposes, however it didn't make it out

https://rollcall.com/2025/07/10/gambling-tax-repeal-bill-blocked-in-senate/

 

There is another attempt with the Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation (FAIR BET) Act -

https://titus.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=5805

 

How late did congressional interns have to work to come up with just the right acronym to please their bosses?

[ionel]

3 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

How late did congressional interns have to work to come up with just the right acronym to please their bosses?

Knowing how DC works they came up with that one ~2am at a bar.  

[mspart]

I watched Madam Secretary and I would say it was done outside a conference room while eating donuts. 

mspart

[ionel]

21 minutes ago, mspart said:

I watched Madam Secretary and I would say it was done outside a conference room while eating donuts. 

mspart

It may have been the same intern who used to work for Wkn and came up with the silly term pinfall.  

[Wrestleknownothing]

36 minutes ago, ionel said:

It may have been the same intern who used to work for Wkn and came up with the silly term pinfall.  

Earl McCready never met a pinfall he didn't like. 

[ionel]

14 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Earl McCready never met a pinfall he didn't like. 

Well now ....