On the Fourth of July national holiday, US President Donald Trump signed his “Big Beautiful Bill”, a package of tax breaks and spending cuts, into law, which impacts gamblers.
Trump’s efforts to persuade Congress to embrace the domestic priority that may solidify his legacy in the second term resulted in nearly overwhelming Republican support bore fruit. The US President signed the multibillion-dollar “Big Beautiful Bill”, the package of tax breaks and spending cuts, on Independence Day. Among other things, it will impose a provision in the federal budget bill that would limit declarable losses for gamblers. Previously, on July 1, the US Senate approved Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”.
“Big Beautiful Bill” is to limit tax breaks for all gamblers from 2026. Currently, gamblers can deduct 100% of their losses when calculating taxes, provided that they don’t exceed their winnings, but the bill will only allow 90% of losses to be written off. The decision was made by a minimal majority of 51:50.
The changes will primarily affect professional poker players and other players for whom gambling has become the main source of income, as well as bettors and other players. They will pay taxes even with a zero result. For example, a player won US$100,000 and lost the same amount in a year – in fact, he didn’t profit, but the state will allow only US$90,000 in losses to be written off, and he will pay taxes on an income of US$10,000, which are actually not in gamblers’ pockets.
Experts predict a boom in the outflow of online players to offshore operators.
