Titus to Continue Seeking Gambling Tax Fix: ‘There is Some Urgency Here’
The spending bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday did not include a fix to restore the full deduction for gambling losses. However, repealing the potentially costly provision from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill remains a priority for U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.).
Titus, whose district includes most of the Las Vegas Strip, tried to get the measure attached to the $180 billion appropriations bill, dubbed the “minibus,” during a committee hearing earlier in the week. The House Rules Committee opted not to include her amendment or a similar proposal made by U.S. Reps. Max Miller (R-Ohio) and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.).
In addition, the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday declined Titus’ request to consider her HR 4304 bill, labeled the FAIR BET Act, during the panel’s markup session.
A spokesperson for Titus told Gambling Insider on Wednesday that the push to repeal the 90% cap on gambling losses, effective this year, will continue as Congress still has several spending bills to pass for the current fiscal year.
‘Quickest Venue’ Sought
The effects of the 90% cap can already be felt, even though we’re just two weeks into 2026 and the bill for this year’s taxes won’t be due until 2027, Titus spokesperson Dick Cooper told Gambling Insider. Many professional gamblers, who have relied on the full deduction for their livelihoods, have made changes in case the full deduction is not re-enacted by the end of the year.
This comes on the heels of tourism data showing, through the first 11 months of 2025, the number of people visiting the Las Vegas area is down by more than 7% from 2024.
“This is not good for places like Las Vegas,” Cooper said in an email. “Gaming revenues are already down because of the ‘Trump Slump,’ and the deduction issue will exacerbate that.”
If there is some good news, it’s that Congress still has a few appropriations bills left to approve for the current fiscal year. Those measures will give Titus and other proponents opportunities to include amendments to restore the full deduction.
If not, the FAIR BET Act or another measure to repeal the 90% cap would have to go through both the House and Senate as a standalone bill. That would likely take longer, causing a greater effect on gamblers and casinos.
“We are still looking for the quickest venue to get the FAIR BET Act on the books, and that is probably an appropriations bill,” he said. “There is some urgency here.”
Why the Full Deduction Matters
Titus filed her bill back in July, days after Congress passed the Big Beautiful Bill. By the time gamblers learned of the reduced deduction, it was too late to fix in the bill, which President Trump wanted to sign into law on July 4.
If passed, the FAIR BET Act would allow gamblers who itemize their deductions to claim gambling losses up to the full amount of their winnings.
According to IRS data, nearly 90% of taxpayers now take the standard deduction, which increased significantly with the tax reform act Congress passed in 2017. The small percentage of people who itemize do so because they can claim more than the $16,100 standard deduction available for single taxpayers in 2026.
Still, without the full deduction, gamblers would pay significantly more in taxes. Under the Big Beautiful Bill, if a gambler reports $100,000 in winnings in 2026, they would be able to claim only $90,000 in losses. The net $10,000 would be taxed at anywhere between 10% and 37%, depending on their total income.
Titus’ bill has 23 cosponsors, with 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans.
Republicans hold a slight majority in the House, so the bill sponsored by Miller, which he filed last week with Horsford, could be the one Congress passes.
For now, gamblers appear to be skeptical that a fix will happen soon. At Kalshi, a market that the 90% cap will be repealed by April is selling at 18 cents on Thursday morning. That price is equivalent to odds of +456.
The price of futures contracts for the repeal to pass by the end of this year is 48 cents, which is near even-money odds.
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