House Committee Repeals 2026 Gambling Tax Provision

The ‘Big. Beautiful Bill’ Tax Provision introduced in January has met with strong opposition in the House Ways and Means Committee, who passed legislation repealing the 2026 gambling tax provision by 38 votes to five. The law, which took effect on the first day of 2026, means gamblers can only take off 90% of losses from their taxes, and inspired some players such as Erik Seidel to step back from playing.

Could the Big, Beautiful Bill Be No More?

The Big Beautiful Bill was introduced last year, and passed into law from January 1^st 2026, despite serious opposition from Dina Titus among other politicians. The bill, which could result in a poker professional having a losing year yet paying taxes on those losses, has met with strong opposition from the poker industry since it was announced, and while the House Ways and Means Committee is only the first step to it being repealed, a bipartisan Full House Act would then remove the provision from active law.

If successful, the repealing of this bill would be a retroactive one, meaning that gambling losses and their taxation would be spooled back to 1/1/26 as part of the Ways & Means tax bill, avoiding the 90% tax bill on any money. Over the past few months, it is estimated that the original change to the bill introduced by Donald Trump’s presidency has had a net negative impact on revenue of around $2 billion.

The vote for the bill, titled HR6985, to be passed was an overwhelming one, with the 38-5 result leaving just five Democrats voting against the plan. The bill sponsor, Rep. Steven Horsford, the Republican representative for Nevada said: “At a time of economic uncertainty, my job is to protect Nevadans and their jobs.”

Negreanu Wades into Bill Discussion

The GGPoker Global Ambassador Daniel Negreanu watched the session take a huge step towards repeal and passed comment on the situation.

“The five ‘no’ votes should be forced to explain their logic here and why they think it’s fair and appropriate for people to pay tax when they didn’t make any income,” said the eight-time WSOP bracelet winner. Tell me, guy bets $1,000, loses, bets another $1,000, wins. He is even, but you want him to pay tax? Explain yourself.”

The logic of DNegs’ reasoning landed with most but Bryan Paris raised an alternate viewpoint.

“I obviously want the tax to go away for personal reasons, but from the perspective of the rest of society taxing all forms of gambling more makes perfect sense.”

Negreanu questioned this saying: “[I] assume you mean taxing winnings exclusively. Taxing someone who broke even or lost seems like… well, just not remotely fair to them.”

“Unfair, sure,” Paris agreed. “There’s tens of thousands of worse and more unfair taxes that exist to hamper businesses and other productive sectors of the economy. If this particular one discourages Joe Schmoe from getting into slots or sports betting it’s a net positive.”

Horsford and Titus Aligned for House Battle

The Republican Nevada representative Steven Horsford is determined to push the bill changes through in the near future and told supporters why he continues to battle on their behalf.

“From dealers and housekeepers to restaurant workers and small business owners, families across our state depend on visitors choosing Nevada,” he said. “This unfair tax puts their livelihoods at risk. That’s why I fought to advance my Full House Act, and I won’t stop until we get this relief signed into law.”

Horsford has an ally from across the bench in the senate, with Vegas’ Democratic Senator

Dina Titus also advocating for a full house vote and a repeal, attaching the vote to a Titus tax package. The female senator welcomed the House Ways & Means Committee’s vote result.

“Finally, after 14 months of uncertainty, my fix to restore the 100% tax deduction for gambling losses has been passed out of committee,” Titus posted on X.

Negranu’s neighbor and fellow tournament crusher and former WSOP Player of the Year Josh Arieh couldn’t believe that the repeal vote received five denials.

“Imagine being ignorant enough to vote ‘no’ on this … there are five elected officials to do exactly this,” he said.

While poker players – particularly professionals – will be celebrating this vote, the motion still has a way to go until it changes the law. Titus added the repeal to a defense spending bill back in September, only for it to lose, and lawmakers again rejected the change back in January.

The House will vote on the matter, however. What remains unknown is how the odds have changed since the last time.

Paul Seaton, an esteemed figure in the poker community with over ten years of experience, has provided live coverage from renowned poker tournaments like the World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour, and World Poker Tour. His involvement goes beyond observation; he has served as the Editor of BLUFF Europe Magazine and Head of Media for partypoker.