An attempt to make changes to the tax structure included in the bill continues to fail
Efforts to roll back a controversial tax change affecting gamblers hit another wall this week, leaving poker players and other bettors still facing an uphill fight. Lawmakers attempted to restore the full deduction for gambling losses but failed to move the fix forward in the House.
I testified before the House Rules Committee about the urgent need to restore the gambling loss tax deduction to 100%.
I submitted an amendment to this week’s Appropriations bill that would do just that.
It’s time to get this fair, common sense fix over the finish line. pic.twitter.com/P8ArWJGmQ2
— Dina Titus (@repdinatitus) January 21, 2026
The latest push came through an amendment tied to an appropriations bill reviewed by the House Rules Committee. Despite hours of debate and dozens of proposals, the committee wrapped up its work without allowing the amendment to advance, shutting down that route for now.
At the center of the debate is a rule change from the Trump-era “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which capped gambling loss deductions at 90% of winnings. That means players can owe taxes even when they break even over the year, a result critics call unfair and unrealistic.
Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada made that point directly during committee testimony. She argued that gamblers should only be taxed on actual profit, not on money that was won and later lost. According to Titus, the old 100% deduction reflected how gambling really works.
Support for restoring the full deduction has grown across party lines. Titus said more than two dozen lawmakers now back the change, including Rep. Max Miller of Ohio, who has introduced similar legislation tied to the Senate’s FULL HOUSE Act.
Even with that support, progress remains slow. Only two amendments out of more than 80 were added to the bill under review, and the gambling fix was left out. Some committee members openly joked that anything labeled “common sense” rarely survives the process.
Opposition also remains firm in the Senate, where figures like Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma have pushed back against restoring the deduction. That resistance makes it harder to attach the issue to larger bills.
For now, the 90% limit stays in place. Supporters are expected to regroup and focus on building momentum in other committees, hoping to force a vote down the line.
