BBB may hurt public gambling

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If a gambler has $101,000 of taxable winnings and $100,000 of losses plus expenses during a year, their net winnings would be only $1,000. However, with only $90,000 of losses and expenses able to be deducted, their taxes would be based on winnings of $11,000. If taxed at 24% — the federal withholding rate for gambling taxes — that would lead to a tax bill of $2,640, or well over double the net winnings figure.

The exact tax rate a bettor pays on their gambling winnings depends partly on their other income, but even at the lowest tax bracket, a bettor with $101,000 of winnings and $100,000 of losses — roughly equivalent to hitting on bets priced at -110 53% of the time — would be making a loss after taxes.

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This would affect professional gamblers in a huge way, but they're a very small % of the field. The vast majority have no winnings or taxable income.

This reminds me of the "more rake is better" argument from PokerStars and their prime ambassador, which led to this historic Super High Roller Bowl moment:

My unpopular opinion is that gambling and pornography should go back to being a pariah.

Gambling income has always been the worst type of income you could have. I know someone who had $10k in 1099 winnings from slots and had to pay taxes on all of it even though she had a net loss for the year. Losses can only be deducted if you file itemized and she didn’t qualify.

Yeah it was kind of a PITA to track my daily grind back in the day because I was playing live cash mostly. Much easier to do online where they track your play for you.

On its own, the BBB tax rules are not good. Sharps are how books set the lines, no professional bettors = worse lines for everyone. Books will have to price their lines more risk averse (i.e. shittier lines for bettors) without Sharp data

Its the individual state taxes that really kill it for the people betting for fun. Some states are even doing taxes per wager. Who is going to place a few bucks on a parlay if they are paying a 10% tax upfront?

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no professional bettors = worse lines for everyone. Books will have to price their lines more risk averse (i.e. shittier lines for bettors) without Sharp data

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Correct.

I was kind of referencing this in my earlier post without getting too technical.

It's going to create more instability and over the long term the books are going to benefit from that. Your casuals are not going to know that they're getting bad lines and this instability will let the books create many more bad lines

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gambling and pornography should go back to being a pariah.

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Porn is a cancer and while I don’t think it should be banned, it needs to be legally limited and publicly discouraged outside of government.

Gambling will occur legal or not and trying to suppress or stop it is silly and anti-American. However not all gambling is the same. Horse handicapping is my part time job and it’s a lot of work. I’d estimate 10 to 15 hours a week handicapping cards to maybe find a handful of races that warrant a wager. It’s a lot of math and spreadsheet building. That being said I love every second of it.

I'm a NO vote. I won $20 at L'Auberge last Saturday. I'll die on this hill.

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but even at the lowest tax bracket, a bettor with $101,000 of winnings and $100,000 of losses — roughly equivalent to hitting on bets priced at -110 53% of the time — would be making a loss after taxes.

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If you’re in the lowest tax bracket and have risked 100k gambling in a year you have a major problem.