Why It’s a Big Deal for Poker Pros Thin margins: Many professional players operate with slim net gains. Losing the full deduction means paying taxes on income they didn’t make. E.g., Phil Galfond notes: “You’d make $200,000, but pay taxes as if you made $700,000” Wall Street Journal+4Taxes for Expats+4New York Post+4. Daniel Negreanu says it’s “as big as it gets” and warns it may spell the end for many pros Yahoo Finance+2Poker+2fairbanksfletcher.com+2. Tax experts warn it could make professional poker and high-stakes gambling untenable CPA Practice Advisor+5PokerNews+5Poker+5. ⚖️ Legal & Lobby Efforts Underway Prominent figures like Phil Hellmuth are lobbying with Sen. Ted Cruz to repeal or modify the provision Yahoo Finance+11PokerNews+11fairbanksfletcher.com+11. Sen. Cortez Masto and Rep. Dina Titus are pushing bipartisan bills like the FAIR Bet Act to restore full deductions PokerNews+5AP News+5Wall Street Journal+5. But Senate Republicans blocked a rollback on July 10, signaling the fight isn’t over AP News+3AP News+3ajc+3. Potential Fallout Pros could face tax bills far exceeding their actual profits. Some may exit the profession, shift to offshore markets, or reduce play Taxes for Expats+6The Washington Post+6Wall Street Journal+6Poker. Recreational players with years of even break-even results may also end up with unexpected tax burdens
Old people who gamble get an extra $6,000 deduction this year. Don't claim loses just let the standard deduction absorb it. Also horse racing gamblers, the ones that are high volume computer assisted wagering are being hurt. These CAW's are almost 40% of the handle, their high volume strategy is to break even while getting rebates from the track.
Its pretty stupid for sure. I wonder if this will spell doom for the WSOP & WPT tournaments? It will probably just go underground. Rounders (1998) is a good movie about the local underground poker tournaments that happen all the time. They even show poker tables at Trump's old Casino in Atlantic City (Taj Mahal). The great poker player Johnny Chan is in it as well.