Representative Dina Titus’ attempt to change the new gambling tax provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill has failed
Titus attached legislation to change the gambling tax provisions to the National Defense Authorization Act. Her legislation known as the FAIR BET Act was not accepted by the Rules Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and will not move forward.
Titus responded to the FAIR BET Act’s demise on X by saying, “Unfortunately, the GOP-controlled Rules Committee did not accept the FAIR BET Act as an amendment to the MDAA. This was an easy fix that should have been adopted. Nonetheless, I will continue to build support to restore the 100% gambling loss deduction.”
Under gambling tax changes in the Big Beautiful Bill gamblers will only be allowed to write off 90 percent of their gambling losses. They previous were able to write off 100 percent.
This was a major change as it could lead to gamblers paying tax even if they lost money over the course of the year. The new tax rules are scheduled to go into effect at the start of 2026.
By attaching her legislation to the defense bill as an amendment it would have guaranteed passage if the rules committee had not nixed it from the bill. The strategy used by Titus has been successful in the past in getting gambling related legislation passed. In 2006 two senators attached the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) to the Safe Port Act to more easily and readily get it passed.
The UIGEA was one of the main pieces of legislation used to go after online poker operators during the crackdown in April, 2011.
