New Poker Tax Law Bringing Rival Politicians Together
Illegal immigration and gun laws will forever be partisan issues in the United States. But unfairly taxing poker players and gamblers, that’s a different story.
President Donald Trump recently passed his landmark “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a federal statute containing tax and spending policies that will shape the president’s second-term agenda. Buried deep in the crevice of that bill, hidden among the Medicaid restrictions and homeland security spending, is a provision that could make it financially difficult for professional poker players in the U.S.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a Trump ally and avid poker player, said on his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, that he’s looking into fixing that controversial provision. He even has some assistance from his adversaries on the other side of the political aisle.
Poker Legend to the Rescue?
The hidden gambling tax policy, which goes into effect in 2026, caps gambling tax deductions for losses at 90%. If an American poker player reports winnings of $150,000 and losses of $100,000, they’ll no longer be taxed on the $50,000 profits and will instead pay taxes on $60,000 of income ($150,000 – 90% of $100,000).
That provision has sparked some anger within the gambling community. Even some lawmakers who voted in favor of Trump’s bill, such as Cruz, have spoken out against the policy. Cruz, on his podcast, admitted that “nobody saw” the “little provision that was written” in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill changed how gambling losses are counted in taxes,” Senator Cruz, a 2016 presidential candidate, told his podcast audience. “And what it did for people like professional poker players is it ended up putting in place a rule that is wildly unfair, that punishes them, that taxes them on income they didn’t earn.”
Poker Hall of Famer Phil Hellmuth, who has played cards with the lawmaker, has encouraged Cruz to push for making changes to what he refers to as the “Poker Players Death Tax.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) recently joined poker pro Doug Polk on his podcast to discuss the controversial gambling tax policy, which she called “outrageous.”
“I think it caught Republicans off guard,” Cortez Masto told Polk. “Had we known this was happening, I think we could have stopped it ahead of time.”
Democrats and Republicans Come Together
Sen. Jacky Rosen and Rep. Dina Titus, both fellow Nevada Democrats, are joining Cortez Masto in crossing the aisle to work with Cruz in fixing the “wildly unfair” poker tax provision.
“We were moving incredibly fast at 3 in the morning, and so nobody saw it there,” Cruz said of how the gambling tax provision went unnoticed. “When I heard about it, I said ‘that makes no sense at all.’ But it was already passed. It was signed into law at the time I heard about it. And so what I’ve done, I’ve joined with the two Nevada Senators, with Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, they’re both Democrats, and also Bill Haggerty who is a Republican. All four of us have joined in legislation to fix this.”
The former Trump rival admitted, however, that “I don’t know that we’ll get it fixed because changing anything in the law is complicated.” But he said he doesn’t know of any member of the Senate, on either political side, “who is arguing this is a good deal.”
Cruz, who said he enjoys watching the World Series of Poker (WSOP), competed on an episode of Poker After Dark on PokerGO along with Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and MrBeast. He hosts a poker event in Las Vegas to raise money for his political campaigns.
But he’s concerned that if the provision isn’t fixed, it could drive professional poker players out of the country.
Phil Hellmuth Helped Ted Cruz Introduce Policy Benefiting America’s Youth