U.S. Lawmakers to Debate Repeal of Gambling Tax Provision

The House Ways and Means Committee will consider the bipartisan FULL HOUSE Act during the first few days of the fall Congressional session. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) and Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) filed HR 6985 in January, which is the Facilitating Useful Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy Act, or FULL HOUSE for short. The FULL HOUSE Act would repeal the specific gambling tax provision in last year’s OBBA, which only allows gamblers to deduct 90% of gambling losses.

High-stakes poker players have expressed concerns about the tournament poker ecosystem due to a possible “phantom tax” burden. If players can only write off 90% of their losses, they have a tax bill on a breakeven year. Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel announced in April he was playing a reduced schedule because of the bill’s tax implications.

Nevada Rep. Dina Titus’ (D) proposal to repeal the tax provision has been attached to a tax package currently circulating in the House. Titus first introduced the FAIR BET Act (Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation Act) in 2025. The measure has seen some stops and starts since that time, including getting cut from a defense spending bill in September 2025 and getting rejected from inclusion in a spending bill in January.