Titus Calls On House Ways And Means Committee To Move FAIR BET Act
Nevada Rep. Dina Titus is continuing her push to undo the portion of the OBBBA that all but puts professional gamblers out of business
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Nevada Rep. Dina Titus is calling on the United States House Committee on Ways and Means to add the Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation Act (FAIR BET Act) to the legislative calendar before the end of the calendar year.
The act seeks “to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to wagering losses.”
And the full text of the bill? “by striking ‘90 percent’ and inserting ‘100 percent.'”
Over the summer, when President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), passed, gamblers ended up holding the bag. One provision in the bill would only allow gamblers to deduct 90% of their gambling losses, as opposed to the current 100%. Put simply, losing gamblers could potentially owe tax money, and winning gamblers would see their winnings dramatically shrink.
Under this provision, if a gambler has $100,000 in winnings and $100,000 in losses, they would only be allowed to deduct $90,000. As a result, they would be taxed as if they made $10,000, even though they didn’t.
At the standard 24% federal tax rate, that would be $2,400 tax bill on zero profit.
Even profitable bettors get slammed. Win $101,000, lose $100,000, and the bettor is technically up $1,000. Under this new law, they’d owe $2,640 in taxes, more than twice what they made.
Titus’ bill would undo this part of the OBBBA.
So far, bill not gaining traction
Titus — who is a Democrat — has gotten nine Republican legislators to lend their names to the bill as co-sponsors, most recently Rep. Mike Ezell of Mississippi, who signed on Monday. But despite the bipartisan appeal to the bill, no action has been taken on it since Titus introduced it on July 7.
As a result, many professional gamblers fear for their livelihoods.
Earlier this year, the FAIR BET Act was blocked by the House Rules Committee when Titus attempted to add it as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
As for the hopes of this bill getting through this year?
It would appear to be slim, as the House Ways and Means Committee isn’t showing any signs it plans to take up the FAIR BET Act. There a pair of subcommittee hearings this week, but neither relate to the FAIR BET Act.
The indication here would be if Titus’ bill is going to move before the end of the year, committee leaders would have to add it to the schedule. Based on the public calendar, there’s nothing to suggest it’s coming anytime soon.
