Nevada Rep. Dina Titus is doing all she can to ensure her attempt to undo the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) gambling tax deduction change is undone.
The co-chair of the Congressional Gaming Caucus announced on Wednesday that she has introduced her Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation Act (FAIR BET Act) as an amendment to the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Titus originally filed the one-line proposal on July 7 as an attempt to reverse the late addition to the OBBBA that cut the amount of net losses that gamblers would only be able to deduct on their taxes down from 100% to 90%, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The OBBBA measure garnered intense criticism from the gambling industry because of the fact that gamblers could be left having to pay taxes on money they did not actually earn.
Tacking it onto an NDAA bill that is virtually certain to pass in one form or another opens up another avenue for Titus’ measure to be approved, rather than the FAIR BET Act itself having to go through the full legislative process.
A spokesperson for Titus’ office told SBC Americas that it is “cautiously optimistic” that the amendment will be approved. “The FAIR BET Act has bipartisan support and the NDAA already contains non-defense matters such as cryptocurrency legislation.”
For now, nothing will happen until Congress reconvenes in September.
“I strongly encourage the Republicans to make this amendment in order when it goes before the House Rules Committee upon our return to Congress next month,” Democrat representative Titus wrote of her proposed add-on.
The FAIR BET Act is still pending in the Ways and Means Committee (WAM). Ten co-sponsors have signed on since Titus initially filed it.
Titus drums up support as similar bills wait
The push to ditch the OBBBA tax deduction change has gone quiet in recent weeks, since a WAM field hearing in late July in which GOP committee chair Rep. Jason Smith said that both Republicans and Democrats are working to “address” the issue before it goes into effect at the start of next year.
In the lead-up to that hearing, Smith said he wanted to reverse the “bad decision.” He is one of numerous Republicans who have spoken out to either decry the tax deduction change or claim they did not even know it had happened.
Meanwhile, a GOP version of the bill was filed by Kentucky Republican Rep. Andy Barr in late July, titled the Winnings and Gains Expense Restoration Act (WAGER Act). That is the third piece of legislation filed in Congress with the same intention, after Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto introduced the Facilitating Unbiased Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy Act (FULL HOUSE Act) in July.
Titus said at the FAIR BET Act hearing in Las Vegas that the attempt to restore the 100% deduction has bipartisan Congressional support, as well as the backing of parties including the Nevada Resorts Association, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and numerous tribes. The American Gaming Association wrote in a letter to WAM that the OBBBA change “creates an unfair precedent by taxing phantom income and uniquely penalizing a legal, heavily regulated activity.”
And MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle confirmed that he, Caesars CEO Tom Reeg and Wynn Resorts CEO Craig Billings all met with politicians to discuss the tax change’s impact on the industry in a bid to get the OBBBA change “corrected.”
