‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ potentially very bad for poker (players) in the US + STAY ON TOPIC!!

Bart is wrong. 90% of losses would be deductible, up to 100% of gambling winnings.

Still very bad. Winning and break even players are the ones being effected. Big losers can still offset all of their income.

The only way it doesn't pass if there are casinos or DFS sites that have enough lobbying pull with the right conservatives in the House to get the language pulled before they finalize the bill.

I suppose this is some dumb way to make the math work on the tax cuts for the richest, by finding lots of things like this that can be estimated to increase taxes by some bean counter.

Had no idea this was in the bill. Still probably doesn’t make the top 20 on the list of terrible provisions it includes.

But it is almost certain to pass; I don’t know why you would think otherwise.

https://x.com/PhilGalfond/status/1940198...

Yeah it wasn’t lost on me that *everything else* didn’t cause any concern but this set off many people I know to finally say one word against trump

"No chance this passes"

You clearly haven't been paying much attention to politics. The current GOP has zero spine, this is Trump's party, they are loyal to him. Even if some of them express "concern" or "skepticism" for this bill, they will tow the MAGA line. There's even a republican senator telling the house to vote no on a bill she passed lol.

This will be a massive shock to low-income households, especially those who are enrolled to Medicaid. I guess the only silver lining is that this will backfire on the GOP tremendously. Also, yeah professional gamblers are easily screwed here.. this probably will end careers with small edges

I mean not much you can do at this point.

So that would kill tournament poker. What about cash games - any thoughts?

Is there even a precedent for only a fraction of a total of something qualifying for deduction? I’ve seen caps but I’ve never seen anything where only a portion of something qualified in taxes except home offices but that’s because that’s considered to be the total space is being used for business. Seems illogical either losses are qualifiable expenses or they’re not.

This is obviously terrible for gamblers and poker players especially due to the volume vs return. If you taxed businesses 10% of revenue almost all would be bankrupt.

"Senate Version of Big, Beautiful Bill Is Bigly Ugly Towards Gambling
Posted on July 1, 2025 by Russ

The extension to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is now in the Senate as the “Big, Beautiful Bill.” The Senate version will likely receive a final vote today (and pass); however, it is quite different in certain areas from the House bill (that earlier passed that chamber). And it is really ugly (or to use one of President Trump’s phrases, bigly ugly) towards gambling.

The Senate version would permanently:

Limit gambling losses to 90% of gambling winnings; and
For professional gamblers, the total of losses and business expenses could not exceed 90% of gambling winnings.

Consider Joe, an amateur gambler who comes to Las Vegas once a year. He breaks exactly even, with $100,000 of gambling winnings (all on W-2Gs) and $100,000 of gambling losses. If he doesn’t keep a session log he’s going to owe tax on $10,000 of income.

Or consider Larry, a professional gambler, with $500,000 of gambling winnings on the poker circuit, but $440,000 of losses and $50,000 of ordinary and necessary business expenses; he’ll have to pay tax on $50,000 of income rather than his $10,000 of net income.

I do need to point out that these provisions are not in the House version (the House version simply extends the current TCJA limitations on business expenses causing a loss for professional gamblers). This is one of many areas where the two versions are not the same and will need to be ironed out (likely in a conference committee).

There are two inescapable conclusions if the Senate version becomes law. First, keeping a gambling log will be essential: If Joe had $100,000 of wins and $100,000 losses in the same session he would have $0 of gambling winnings. Second, this would be another big negative towards gambling and would definitely hurt tourism in areas like Nevada."

The above quote was taken from a post in a thread started by Mason Malmuth about how good Trump's 2nd term wil be for poker! (L.O.L.)
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/285/p...

i mean you can just not pay taxes. I don't know how well casinos track but it would be very hard for them to know!

Yea sounds incredibly bad for tourney poker, would basically be impossible to be a pro unless you already know you can crush but a lot of recs might abandon those for cash games so you might not be able to crush anymore

Really bad for poker overall but could see some increase in cash game action everywhere. Seems bad for casinos overall/jackpot games. Probably lots of slot machines will be removed and more table games added

If you get a payout of a certain amount in a tourney the casino files something, same with everytime you hit a jackpot on slots over $1200 I think

I doubt any recreational players who only play cash games are currently filing W2G forms so seems like it won't affect cash poker/pit games

I would assume people would do this if they're ok with the risk of failing a potential tax audit. Seeing as the IRS has been gutted since Trump took office, it may be a worthwhile strategy 😀

ya I know tournaments are dunzo but im sure cash game players would simply stop filing taxes if they even do. rip poker streams for sure tho

have you met live poker players? they are the most disgusting human beings

Filing taxes for cash game pros is way different than tourneys, this really doesn't affect cash games in any way. I'd be willing to bet that number of recreational players that file taxes for poker that play exclusively cash games is very very close to 0%. Most recs are losing in any given year so the only reason they would file to begin with is bc they hit a few tourney scores big enough the casino files on them and they have to offset those winnings with their losses

This would be much more damaging to DFS than casino poker

It would pretty much wipe out any legal online gaming because they have reporting requirements

DFS players are screwed yes. Online sportsbooks are fine as they don't report to the IRS.

Cash game crushers will be ok, but face a significant tax increase (I ballpark my increase at about 20%). Smaller winners may get crushed by it. It depends on both winrate and variance. Higher variance players get hit harder, and smaller winners get squeezed and may not be able to afford the squeeze.

In tourneys, I think this kills the high roller circuit (or forces a bunch of Americans to expatriate and all the events to be overseas). I think it probably kills a lot of the circuit grinders who have high travel expenses.

Anyone who lives in a Congressional district with casinos should call their representative ASAP (they could vote on this tomorrow), even a Democrat may be able to get this removed by working with Republicans who also have casinos in their districts. Anyone who lives in a district with a Republican representative should call their rep regardless. Your script can be something like:

"Hi, my name is _______ and I am a constituent of Congressman/woman ______________. My zip code is ________________. I am calling because the Big Beautiful Bill amends Internal Revenue Code Section 165(d) in a way that could kill the gambling/poker/dfs (whatever you want) industry by overtaxing winners and even taxing losers by limiting their deductions to 90% instead of the full amount. Please do everything possible to get this section removed, as it will kill poker/gambling/dfs careers from professional players to dealers and casino employees."

You can find your Congressman's info here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/fi...

I also plan on calling Congresswoman Dina Titus (Las Vegas Strip is in her district - Office # 702-220-9823), Congresswoman Susie Lee (Spring Valley - Office # 702-963-9336), and Congressman Steven Horsford (North Vegas - Office # 702-963-9360), and saying:

"Hi, my name is ________ and I have a comment for the Congressman/woman. I am a professional poker player. While I don't reside in your district, I travel to Las Vegas for two to three months a year most years for the World Series of Poker in the summer and the WPT World Championship in December at the Wynn. I am calling because the Big Beautiful Bill amends Internal Revenue Code Section 165(d) in a way that will kill the tournament poker industry by overtaxing winners and even taxing some losing players by limiting deductions on losses to 90% instead of the full amount. As a professional player who spends several thousand dollars a year on accommodations and meals in your district, I believe this will harm casinos, hotels, rental properties, restaurants, and other local businesses in your community and I wanted to make sure you were aware and urge you to do everything possible to get this section removed."

Unfortunately they're all Democrats, so they have less sway on this. Anyone who travels regularly to play poker in an area with a red representative should call them and use a similar script. Anyone who lives in a red area that also has casinos/poker rooms, you are the ones who have the most power to try to get someone's attention to get this removed.

As this is a massive threat to the poker community and to many livelihoods, could a mod please change the title of the thread to something like: Professional Poker Could be Killed by Tax Increase in Big Beautiful Bill, WTF, Call Your Representatives!!!

On the list of awful things in this bill I gotta admit this is about #37 for me on list of importance

(I'm not a mod in NVG)

I'm a professional and even so it's not #1 to me either, but it's the only thing I think me making a call about could actually make a difference. Given that this is a poker community, a lot of people here have their careers threatened and could save them if enough people make the calls.

Anyone know why Draftkings stock didn't react to this news at all? You would think this is devastating bill for the company. Opened up a short position yesterday post market but not much to show for so far. I guess the market doesn't believe that this gambling section passes the way it is or the market is just slow to react which I doubt.

Obviously hoping this disaster doesn't pass.

Nah, Tournament poker will be just fine. I can guaranty that 2026 WSOP will be record breaking then Europeans return