Congress moves to eliminate federal tax on gambling—shifting costs to other taxpayers.
H.R. 1440 — Discriminatory Gaming Tax Repeal Act of 2025 · Filed by Dina Titus (D-NV) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 18, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill repeals federal excise taxes on wagering (betting) that are currently imposed under Chapter 35 of the Internal Revenue Code. The repeal would take effect retroactively for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024, eliminating a revenue stream that funds federal programs and shifting the tax burden elsewhere or reducing federal revenue.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is the repeal of a specific federal excise tax on wagering activity. It is a straightforward tax reduction for a narrow sector, not a broad public-policy measure.
What the text implies
- Retroactive effective date (Jan 1, 2025) may create refund claims for taxes already paid in early 2025, with uncertain fiscal impact.
- The title 'Discriminatory Gaming Tax Repeal Act' frames the excise tax as discriminatory, but the bill does not explain the discrimination claim—this framing may signal a broader deregulation agenda without stating it.
- Repeal eliminates dedicated revenue for federal programs historically funded by wagering taxes; no replacement revenue source is identified in the bill.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Wagering-tax repeal benefits people who gamble (lower costs on that activity), but the lost federal revenue must be made up through other taxes, spending cuts, or deficits—costs borne by the broader public. The bill is a narrow tax cut for a specific activity, not a broad public benefit.
Who stands to gain
- gaming operators and casinos
- online sports betting platforms
- individual bettors and gamblers
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Chapter 35 (excise taxes on wagering), House Committee on Ways and Means
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 5 Republicans, 2 Democrats.
- Feb 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 18, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
9 lobbying clients named this bill on 15 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,000,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 5 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 89% of bills with at least one filing.
Dina Titus, the sponsor, reported $775,196 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Gaming Association — $660,000 on 1 filing
- Draftkings Inc. and Its Affiliates — $610,000 on 2 filings
- Caesars Enterprise Services LLC — $180,000 on 2 filings
- Draftkings Inc. — $180,000 on 2 filings
- Draftkings — $120,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (351 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress moves to eliminate federal tax on gambling—shifting costs to other taxpayers.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1440 Report an error
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