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Provision to Protect Pro Poker Players Against Trump’s New Gambling Tax Law Fails

Patrick Mandelle September 9, 2025 3 min read

Sep 09, 2025 3 min read

A proposed provision to a gambling tax policy within President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) — a policy that could be costly to professional poker players — was rejected by the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Nevada Rep. Dina Titus (D) introduced H.R. 4304, the Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation Act (FAIR BET Act), to combat an overlooked addition to Trump’s signature bill that caps gambling loss deductions at 90%.

Many poker pros have spoken out against the tax policy, which goes into effect in 2026, calling it “unfair.” Some have even said it will destroy the industry.

If an American poker player reports winnings of $150,000 and losses of $100,000, they’ll no longer be taxed on the $50,000 profits and will instead pay taxes on $60,000 of income ($150,000 – 90% of $100,000).

Nevada Congresswoman is Pro-Poker

Titus, in a bipartisan effort with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a poker enthusiast, fought to have the gambling tax portion of the OBBB amended. The FAIR BET Act, a proposed addition to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), would have amended the OBBB to restore the gambling tax law to allow pro gamblers to deduct 100% of losses.

But the Republican-controlled Rules Committee declined to attach the amendment. The congresswoman from Nevada, on X, blamed Republicans for it, and vowed to “continue to build support to restore the 100% gambling loss deduction.”

Titus was met with heavy criticism from political opposition, including Matthew Winterhawk, a Republican who claims to be running to be Nevada’s next governor. Winterhawk responded critically to Titus’ tweet via a 46-second video that was full of inaccuracies.

“Dina Titus, I’m glad that the only people that you seem to care about are the casinos and the gamblers. But, I don’t think that we should be subsidizing gambling,” Winterhawk said.

Winterhawk then continued to compare gambling to other vices, such as heroin use, although gambling is legal in most U.S. states, whereas heroin is illegal nationwide.

“I’m also not going to subsidize people’s heroin usage or their marijuana usage, or anything else that they use with money they earn. If they earn it and they spend it in a bad way and they’re not able to recover it, however they’re still charged because they did initially earn that money, it is what it is,” Winterhawk continued.

“We’re not subsidizing gamblers. We need to make sure Nevadans are taken care of first, not just gamblers who play on the Strip, and the casinos,” he concluded.

Winterhawk, who is seeking political office, is either unaware of what “subsidize” means or confused as to what the FAIR BET Act entails. Titus is not asking for gambling to be subsidized. She is calling for the government to leave the current gambling tax policy in place.

It’s unclear the next steps Titus will take to restore the longstanding gambling tax policy. Ray Kondler of Kondler CPA, a Las Vegas-based CPA firm specializing in gambling taxation, told PokerNews that he expects the One Big Beautiful Bill to “have a major effect on the industry,” both for recreational and professional poker players.

Poker legend Phil Hellmuth referred to the policy as the “Poker Players Death Tax,” and encouraged Sen. Cruz to make it right. High-profile poker pros like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Galfond have spoken out against the new tax policy. But it appears the fight is going to be a tough one.

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