FAIR BET Act Blocked from National Defense Bill

• Rep. Dina Titus’s (D-NV) amendment to add the FAIR BET Act to the National Defense Authorization Act has been blocked
• Titus announced the decision on social media
• The legislation attempts to allow professional gamblers and sports bettors to deduct 100% of losses from taxes

Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) will have to find another way to push her Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation Act (FAIR BET Act) through to legalization.

The Nevada legislator announced Tuesday the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee denied her amendment to attach the FAIR BET Act to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). If it had been approved by the House Rules Committee, the FAIR BET Act likely would have been approved along with the defense bill and signed into law.

The legislation restores the provision that allows professional gamblers and sports bettors to deduct 100% of their losses from their taxes.

New Pathway Needed for Legalization

Titus made the announcement on her social media channel late Tuesday. She bemoaned the decision, saying the legislation is an “easy fix” to restore a provision for professional gamblers that was prohibited by President Donald J. Trump’s (R) One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA).

“Unfortunately, the GOP-controlled Rules Committee did not accept the FAIR BET Act as an amendment to the NDAA. This was an easy fix that should have been adopted. Nonetheless, I will continue to build support to restore the 100% gambling loss deduction,” she wrote.

Hundreds of amendments were proposed for the NDAA.

Trump’s (OBBA) was signed into law on July 3, which included a change to the Internal Revenue Code that only allows professional gamblers to deduct 90% of their losses in a year, down from 100%.

Under the OBBA, if a professional gambler wins $1,000,000 in a single year, but also loses $1,000,000, they will only be able to deduct $900,000 in losses from their taxes. This means they will have to pay taxes on the $100,000 they cannot deduct, as if they had won the money.

FAIR BET’s Next Steps

Her bill, which now includes 10 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, still sits in the House Committee on Ways and Means. It can still be approved on its own and moved forward, but if it had been included in the NDAA it would have all but been assured to be passed.

Titus’s FAIR BET Act is not the only piece of legislation hoping to restore the tax deduction provision for professional gamblers. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) also introduced the Facilitating Unbiased Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy (FULL HOUSE) Act last month, while Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) filed HR 4630 as well.

Both pieces of legislation also hope to roll back the limit on gambling deductions.