The provision tucked into the “Big Beautiful Bill” limits tax deductions for gambling losses, while still requiring professional bettors to pay income tax on all their winnings, according to published reports. Professional gamblers, like the poker players you see on TV, had been allowed to deduct all of their losses from their declared income.

Republicans are counting on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” to be a winner with voters, while Democrats hope to make the massive law politically toxic ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Democrats say Republicans have given them a political gift in President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” They say they can easily sell the bill to the public as a threat to working-class voters, given its cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs and significant tax breaks for the ultrawealthy.