House committee rejects FAIR BET Act proposal to fix the new tax hit faced by gamblers
Summary
The House Rules Committee has blocked Rep Dina Titus’s attempt to restore the full federal deduction for gambling losses by adding the FAIR BET Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The FAIR BET Act would remove a recent change that reduced the gambling loss deduction from 100% to 90% as set out in President Trump’s budget and enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill. The deduction cut, effective from 2026, is estimated to raise about $1.1bn over eight years and could leave some gamblers taxed despite matching losses. Other lawmakers have introduced parallel measures (the WAGER Act and the FULL HOUSE Act), but none have advanced. Titus says she will continue to press the case.
Key Points
- The House Rules Committee refused to accept the FAIR BET Act as an amendment to the NDAA, blocking Titus’s latest route to restore a 100% deduction.
- The change reducing gambling loss deductions from 100% to 90% was included in the recent federal budget and becomes effective in 2026.
- Legislative estimates put the revenue gain from the deduction cut at roughly $1.1bn over eight years.
- Similar bills include the WAGER Act (Rep Andy Barr) and the FULL HOUSE Act (Sen Catherine Cortez Masto), but neither has progressed.
- Titus has a track record on gambling tax issues, including efforts to repeal the 0.25% sports betting excise tax that she argues disadvantages legal operators.
- Some Republican senators on the Senate Finance Committee said they were unaware the deduction change had been included in the budget package.
Context and relevance
This item matters to bettors, operators and tax advisers. The deduction change alters the tax outcome for many gamblers — it can create tax liabilities even when losses offset winnings — and has knock-on implications for how operators and customers plan around taxable winnings. For the industry, the measure changes the post-tax economics and feeds into ongoing lobbying around federal gaming levies, including the long-debated sports betting excise tax. Politically, the episode shows how tax provisions can be inserted into large budget bills and then prove hard to reverse, even with bipartisan attention.
Author
Punchy: This isn’t just an arcane tax tweak — it shifts real dollars for players and operators. If you care about the economics of legal betting in the US, keep an eye on these bills.
Why should I read this?
Because if you or your clients bet, run a sportsbook, or advise on tax, this tweak could bite your bottom line. It’s a small-sounding cut with practical consequences — and the fight to roll it back is still active. We’ve done the legwork so you don’t have to sift through committee votes.
Source
Source: https://igamingbusiness.com/gaming/fair-bet-act-gambling-tax-amendment-fails/