Titus Asks House Leaders to Put Gambling Loss Fix in a Must-Pass Year-End Bill

Nevada's Dina Titus wants the fix for the 90% cap on gambling losses carried in a bill Congress has to pass this year. Eight weeks after the committee vote, the bill that carries it has not reached the floor.

• Rep. Dina Titus wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise on 5 November asking them to put a full gambling loss deduction into "must-pass" legislation
• The fix is Title VII of the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, H.R. 10357, which cleared Ways and Means 38 to 5 on 16 September
• Congress.gov records no action on H.R. 10357 since that markup, and it is not on the House floor schedule for the week of 9 November
• The 90% cap applies to taxable years beginning after 31 December 2025, so it already covers 2026 wagering
• Titus's own bill, H.R. 4304, has 25 cosponsors, and her discharge petition has two signatures

Titus Asks for a Vehicle, Not Just a Vote

Titus, a Nevada Democrat, sent the letter on Thursday, 5 November, according to her office, which quoted it but did not publish it. The provision, she wrote, "would correct an unfair change in the tax code and provide needed certainty to taxpayers, businesses, and regulated gaming markets across the country". In the release she urged leadership to "include it in a must-pass legislative vehicle" as the House returns from recess, and said the 90% limit "will inevitably drive players toward offshore and unregulated markets".

Where the Fix Stands

The cap comes from section 70114 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Public Law 119-21, signed on 4 July 2025. It limits deductible wagering losses to 90% of those losses, still capped at gains, for taxable years beginning after 31 December 2025.

The amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 10357, offered by its sponsor, Missouri Republican Jason Smith, adds a Title VII headed "FULL HOUSE Act". It restores the old wording of section 165(d) for taxable years beginning after 31 December 2025, reaching back to 1 January 2026. The committee ordered the bill reported 38 to 5 on 16 September; congress.gov shows no later action.

Titus's release presents that vote as passage of her FAIR BET Act. Her own bill, H.R. 4304, is still in committee with 25 cosponsors, 11 of them Republicans, and her discharge petition, filed on 12 February 2026, has two signatures, hers and Republican Troy Nehls's. In the Senate, Catherine Cortez Masto's FULL HOUSE Act, S. 2230, has eight cosponsors and has not left the Finance Committee since July 2025. The letter follows earlier attempts to attach the fix to other bills.

The Real Deadline Is the End of This Congress

Because the committee text reaches back to 1 January 2026, New Year's Day is not a cliff. The harder date is 3 January 2027, when the 119th Congress ends and H.R. 10357, H.R. 4304 and S. 2230 all lapse. A fix that misses it starts again while players file 2026 returns under the 90% rule. That is the "certainty" Titus's letter is asking for.

A Crypto Bill Is a Fragile Seat

The fix rides in a 114-page digital asset tax bill, and the Senate rejected the CLARITY market-structure bill in September. Asking for a must-pass vehicle is a bet that H.R. 10357 will not reach the floor on its own in time. With 11 Republicans on her bill and a 38 to 5 committee margin, support is not the obstacle; floor time is, and Johnson and Scalise control it.

The cap already applies to every 2026 bet, and the full House has not voted on the fix. Titus has put the decision with the two members who set the floor schedule, with seven weeks of the year left.