The event poker business in america took a significant hit in 2025 due to new playing tax legal guidelines, however any potential harm will not be felt till subsequent yr’s tax returns are filed.
Congress handed the landmark One Large Stunning Invoice Act (OBBA), President Donald Trump’s signature spending invoice, earlier this yr. Deep in that invoice was a hidden measure that might negatively impression the poker group beginning in 2026, and that sentiment has been bipartisan. Even staunch conservatives reminiscent of Sen. Ted Cruz (TX), a good friend of Poker Corridor of Famer Phil Hellmuth, spoke out in regards to the harm a small provision might do to poker, a recreation he enjoys.
The playing tax adjustments forward have triggered many poker gamers to surprise if they’ll proceed taking part in the sport professionally for for much longer, which is why this was one of many largest poker tales in 2025.
New Playing Tax Legal guidelines Would possibly Pressure Poker Legend Erik Seidel into Semi-Retirement
What is the Large Deal?
Skilled gamblers have grown accustomed to deducting playing losses towards playing wins on their tax returns. If, say, a gambler hits a $100,000 jackpot on January 1 however then goes on to lose $100,000 playing all through the remainder of the yr, they’ll declare $0 in earnings come tax time.
However that is all about to vary due to a coverage added to the OBBA, which some politicians admitted they did not even discover till the invoice had handed. Going again to the above instance, when gamblers file 2026 tax returns, they’re going to solely be permitted to deduct 90% of playing losses. So, as a substitute of reporting a web revenue of $0, the skilled gambler can be required to say $10,000 in earnings (90% of $100,000).
How does this impression poker professionals? It means there can be an added tax burden, which can imply that they’d be required to pay taxes on playing winnings in years they did not even flip a revenue, which occurs every so often within the high-variance nature of event poker, even for the perfect gamers on this planet.
Poker legend Erik Seidel, who has performed at poker’s highest ranges for many years, even stated the tax change might push him into semi-retirement.
“I count on that I will be taking part in a lot smaller if I play (subsequent yr),” Seidel instructed PokerNews in an interview. “I’d play some WPT $3ks or one thing, which I usually do not play aside from in Florida,” Seidel stated. “I will nonetheless play the Predominant Occasion, however I might think about I am in all probability going to spend perhaps 10% or 15% of what I usually do for buy-ins. I do not count on I will be taking part in many $10ks or increased. No Excessive Rollers, for positive.”
It stays to be seen simply what number of poker professionals will stop taking part in tournaments within the U.S. or simply stop taking part in poker for a residing altogether. However the brand new tax legal guidelines will definitely discourage development within the business, and playing normally.
How Controversial Poker Tax Legislation is Uniting Rival U.S. Politicians
What the Specialists are Saying
Ray Kondler of Kondler CPA, a Las Vegas-based CPA agency specializing in playing taxation, instructed PokerNews he expects the “Large Stunning Invoice” will “have a significant impact on the business,” each for leisure {and professional} poker gamers.
“It can negatively have an effect on the leisure participant,” he instructed PokerNews’ Keith Becker in an interview throughout Day 1a of the 2025 WSOP Predominant Occasion. “As a result of prior to now, the place you may deduct 100% of your losses, now you may deduct 90%. So principally you’re paying earnings tax on phantom earnings you won’t have ever have made.”
Kondler added that the skilled poker gamers can be hit the toughest, each attributable to their play quantity and different taxes and premiums they might owe on Social Safety and Medicaid. “So it’s a a lot greater hit for professionals.”
It wasn’t simply the tax consultants who criticized the playing tax coverage. Hellmuth, a 17-time World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner who has made a residing out of taking part in tournaments for many years, referred to it because the “poker gamers demise tax,” and urged his pal, Sen. Cruz, to push to have the availability faraway from the invoice. Cruz, an avid poker participant, had the next to say in regards to the tax coverage:
“The One Large Stunning Invoice modified how playing losses are counted in taxes,” Senator Cruz, a 2016 presidential candidate, instructed his podcast viewers. “And what it did for folks like skilled poker gamers is it ended up setting up a rule that’s wildly unfair, that punishes them, that taxes them on earnings they did not earn.”
Cruz was joined in a bipartisan effort with Nevada Senators Jacky Rosen (D) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D), and Rep. Dina Titus (D), in pushing to have that provision eliminated. However the efforts have been unsuccessful and the OBBA handed as-is, that means skilled gamblers will solely be permitted to deduct 90% of their playing losses beginning in 2026.
Here is What Tax Specialists Need Poker Gamers to Know About Trump’s ‘Large Stunning Invoice’
