A pair of US senators Wednesday filed a bill calling for the repeal of the federal excise tax on sports betting, according to iGB. The one quarter of one percent excise tax on the amount of any legal wager is levied above and beyond state taxes.
Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) filed the bill. Called the “Withdrawing Arduous Gaming Excise Rates Act,” the acronym is “the WAGER Act.”
The trade group the American Gaming Association (AGA) almost immediately came out in favor of the bill. The legislation, the AGA said, would save operators tens of millions of dollars per year in taxes.
“The federal sports betting excise tax was enacted more than 70 years ago as a tool to prosecute illegal sports betting operators,” the AGA wrote in a statement. “Today, with sports betting legal in 38 states and Washington, DC, this antiquated tax puts legal operators at a competitive disadvantage and rewards illegal offshore bookmakers that pay no federal or state taxes, offer no responsible gaming tools, and have no systems in place to prevent underage customers from using their platforms.”
