Titus’ Latest Gambling Tax Fix Amendment Blocked by House GOP
House GOP leaders blocked Rep. Dina Titus' latest attempt to restore the 100% gambling loss tax deduction, leaving the 90% cap in place for now.
Nevada Rep. Dina Titus said House Republican leadership blocked her latest attempt to restore the 100% gambling loss tax deduction after she submitted another amendment to the federal funding bill this week. The effort follows President Donald Trump signing the One Big Beautiful Bill in July, which reduced the deduction to 90%.
In an X post on Feb. 2, Titus said she submitted another amendment to the funding bill. She said Republican leadership did not allow debate or a vote on the issue.
The proposal to restore the gambling deduction appeared to gain momentum last month, as part of House Resolution 7148, the major spending bill. Despite bipartisan support, House leadership blocked the amendments. Lawmakers passed the FY2026 spending bill on Jan. 22 without restoring the 100% deduction.
President Trump officially signed it into law on Feb. 3. Any fix now must come from new Senate action or future legislation.
Titus introduced the FAIR BET (Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation) Act in July. It’s dealt with many obstacles since then, including not receiving a hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Other Lawmakers Try Their Own Approach
Steven Horsford and Max Miller introduced a similar proposal to the FAIR BET Act on Jan. 8. The Facilitating Useful Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy (FULL HOUSE) Act takes a slightly different approach, and would revert the Internal Revenue Code to its pre-2025 wording.
Catherine Cortez Masto sponsors the companion FULL HOUSE Act in the Senate. All the bills ultimately share the same goal: returning to a system in which people are taxed only on their net winnings rather than on gross income.
Supporters of restoring the full deduction have also filed other proposals in the House, including the Republicans’ WAGER Act, which offers another legislative path to reverse the 90% cap.
After Congress failed to attach any of these fixes to the recent spending bill, lawmakers would need to pass standalone legislation or add similar language to a future must-pass package later in the year.
Why is the 90% Deduction Such an Important Issue?
The new 90% deduction means people must pay taxes even if they have net losses while gambling. Those who want to return to 100% say this discourages professionals and high-volume gamblers from betting in the US.
Critics claim that change could push gambling activity to offshore markets, hurting casino revenue and potentially impacting jobs. They say it ultimately creates unfair tax situations where players owe money on losses. They argue taxpayers shouldn’t owe income tax on money they never actually took home.
If someone reported $100,000 in winnings in 2026 and they lost $100,000, they can only claim $90,000 of those losses. The remaining $10,000 then becomes subject to income tax, even though they didn’t make a profit.
What Are the Chances of a Repeal?
The appetite in Congress doesn’t appear strong enough to make a change. Senator James Lankford, who sits on the Finance Committee that originally drafted the 90% provision, said it’s a “pretty minor change” to tax policy.
Prediction market site Kalshi runs a market on whether lawmakers will repeal the loss deduction in 2027. After the platform showed a probability of about 60% at the start of January, it now sits below 40% following the failure of the spending bill.
With House efforts stalled, attention now turns to the Senate and whether lawmakers there will take up the issue. Backers of the gambling tax fix insist the fight isn’t over. However, as things stand, the 90% cap remains law, and any change will require fresh momentum in Congress.
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