Congress raises taxes on gambling losses, effective 2026
S. 2230 — Facilitating Useful Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy (FULL HOUSE) Act · Filed by Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 9, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill reinstates a tax rule that limits gambling losses as a deduction. Under current law, taxpayers can deduct gambling losses only up to the amount of gambling gains they report—they cannot use net gambling losses to offset other income. The bill makes this rule apply again starting in 2026, reversing a prior change that had allowed broader loss deductions.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is to reinstate a tax rule that narrows the deduction available for gambling losses, effectively raising taxes on individuals with net wagering losses. This is a straightforward tax policy change, not a subsidy, carve-out, or regulatory shift.
What the text implies
- The acronym 'FULL HOUSE' (Facilitating Useful Loss Limitations to Help Our Unique Service Economy) is a poker term, suggesting the bill's framing is playful or ironic about gambling taxation—a potential signal that the bill's sponsors view the tax increase as humorous or are signaling to a gambling-industry audience.
- The bill applies retroactively to 2026, meaning taxpayers filing 2026 returns will face the new rule without prior notice or planning opportunity, potentially catching individuals mid-year.
- The rule change may affect professional gamblers and casual bettors differently; professional gamblers may have structured their deductions under prior law and face unexpected tax liability.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Taxpayers with gambling losses will face higher tax bills because they can no longer deduct net losses against other income. This is a tax increase on individuals who engage in wagering, concentrated on those with net losses from gambling activities.
Who stands to gain
- U.S. Treasury (increased tax revenue from restricted gambling-loss deductions)
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Section 165(d), U.S. Treasury, Senate Committee on Finance
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 4 Democrats, 4 Republicans.
- Jul 9, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 9, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
17 lobbying clients named this bill on 25 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,310,000 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 96% of bills with at least one filing.
Catherine Cortez Masto, the sponsor, reported $298,634 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Gaming Association — $660,000 on 1 filing
- Draftkings Inc. and Its Affiliates — $260,000 on 1 filing
- Caesars Enterprise Services LLC — $180,000 on 2 filings
- Draftkings Inc. — $180,000 on 2 filings
- Boyd Gaming Corporation — $120,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 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 (718 characters) on Sep 28, 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 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress raises taxes on gambling losses, effective 2026” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s2230 Report an error
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