The big, beautiful bill may have been too big.
Buried in the 900-plus-page piece of legislation was a provision that makes it much harder to gamble for a living by limiting deductions to 90 percent, not 100 percent, of losses.
Three days after President Trump signed the bill into law, a trio of legislators from both sides of the aisle are backing a bill that would repeal the gambling portion of the big, beautiful bill.
Via FrontOfficeSports.com, representative Dina Titus (D-NV) introduced the FAIR Bet Act on Monday. The law would restore the gambling deduction to 100 percent.
Titus is supported by representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Troy Nehls (R-TX).
It’s not a tax break for gamblers. It’s a recognition of the reality that winning is always offset by losses. If someone wins $100,000 while gambling and loses $100,000 while gambling, nothing has been gained. Under the old law, the income would be zero. Under the big, beautiful bill, the gambler will be regarded as having $10,000 in income. It’s simply not fair, and it defies common sense.
“While I proudly voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which prevents the largest tax hike in American history, the Senate’s version contained a provision that I strongly disagree with,” Nehls told FrontOfficeSports.com in a statement. “Prior to the passage of the OBBBA, the tax code contained a 100% deduction for gambling losses and expenses up to the amount of the individual’s winnings. This deduction was not changed in the House-passed version of the bill.”
Nehls is being disingenuous. If he had a problem with the gambling provision of the version of the bill that came back to the House, he could have insisted that it be changed back — or he could have voted no.
Better known for celebrating the passage of the bill by smoking a cheap-looking cigar with both hands bandaged, Nehls also has proven the folly of the big, beautiful bill. With a massive collection of provisions jammed into one up-or-down bill that was being pushed by an administration that enjoys having Congress under its thumb, there will inevitably be provisions that some of the “yes” men (and women) would say “no” to, if those provisions were considered one at a time.
Which means that the cleanup process is beginning. Starting with the provision that makes it harder to be a professional gambler.
Of course, the effort to fix the flaws of the big, beautiful bill won’t be easy. Especially since Congress won’t be operating with the kind of hair-on-fire urgency that the chief executive demanded.
Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas will host the 2028 Final Four.
A decade ago, it would have been inconceivable. A decade ago, the NFL shut down Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo’s fantasy football convention in Las Vegas, even though the convention was being held at a property that had no gambling on it.
A decade ago, sports betting was legal in gambling but nowhere else. And while the proliferation and normalization of gambling throughout the country since 2018 has stripped Las Vegas of that which made it unique, it has opened new doors for Sin City.
An NFL team resides there. A Super Bowl has happened there. An NHL team plays there. An MLB team is coming. (I think.) And now the Final Four will happen there.
Via Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority voted on Monday to devote $26 million to the planning and execution of the event.
LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill believes the economic impact will outweigh the expenses by $250 million or more.
“When that event takes place in Las Vegas, everybody knows it,” Hill told Akers. “They telecast the skyline of our city over and over again and they talk about being here.”
With most of the country now able to carry a casino around in their pockets, it’s more important than ever to have more of what happens in Vegas happen in Vegas.
At 73, Pete Carroll is the NFL’s oldest head coach. But this offseason he was running around the practice field as he has throughout his coaching career, and that’s making an impression on the Raiders.
Las Vegas defensive end Maxx Crosby says the way Carroll builds a culture is contagious, and there’s excitement brewing in the Raiders’ locker room.
“He’s true to that. It’s not fake energy,” Crosby told Ryan McFadden of ESPN. “And it’s not just him, it’s the assistant coaches, the whole building. It just feels different. . . . Pete creates that culture where everyone knows it’s hard. You’re going to work your ass off, but you’ve got a whole group and an organization of people that all got to be on the same wavelength and go in the same direction. That’s one of the hardest things you could do.”
Crosby has become one of the best players in the NFL during his time with the Raiders, but he hasn’t experienced a lot of team success. With Carroll in the fold, he’s feeling more confident about winning energy starting from the top and filtering its way through the team.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby tend to mix it up a bit when they play one another twice a year as division rivals.
While Mahomes has gotten the better of the Raiders throughout his career, sporting a 10-2 record against the club entering 2025, the two players share an appreciation for each other’s game. Recently, Crosby said that while he sees himself as the league’s best pass rusher, he sees Mahomes as the best quarterback.
In an interview with Up & Adams, Mahomes noted Crosby is one of the toughest competitors he has to face.
“I have so much respect for all those guys in the league that are about their craft, they’re about being better and better,” Mahomes said. “Like he said, we’re going to compete. We know when we step on that football field, we’re going against each other, it’s the Raiders, it’s the Chiefs — it’s two of the greatest in the league going at each other snap [after] snap and continuing to do it twice a year.
“And so, there’s so much healthy respect, but when we get on that football field, it’s going to be trash talk. It’s going to be going out there, he’s going to try to get to me, I’m going to be trying to make big plays happen. But those are the guys — I always say, obviously, he’s on the other team, so I want to go against him and beat him. That’s the guys you want on your team, the guys who are going to leave it all out there, no matter what the score is, and be the best they can possibly be every snap.”
But is Crosby the league’s best edge rusher?
“I think he’s sacked me the most out of anyone I’ve ever played against, so to me, he’s the best pass rusher I’ve played against,” Mahomes said. “So, no offense to any other pass rusher — just putting it out there. But he is the best one that I’ve gone up against because he goes out there and he gives you the effort, he has the moves, and he has the skill. And I think it’s hard to have all three of those and have them year in and year out.”
Crosby has sacked Mahomes six times in his career.
The first meeting between Mahomes and Crosby in 2025 is set for Week 7 in Kansas City.
When we last heard from Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw, he was telling Aaron Rodgers to “chew on bark.” Bradshaw now has a bone to pick with another all-time great.
Sort of.
Appearing on something called To The Point — Home Services Podcast (i.e., Terry got a nice little check), Bradshaw riffed on the 10-year, $375 million contract that his employer, Fox, gave to Tom Brady.
While commenting on the money Fox made from its massive Super Bowl audience, Bradshaw said this, via Brandon Contes of AwfulAnnouncing.com: "[I]f I go in there and ask for a raise, ‘Well, we don’t have any . . . we’re running a little tight.’ Well, you just paid Tom Brady $37 million a year. I’ll take it. I did some bad deals, that’s what it was.”
Bradshaw has worked for Fox since it got the NFL package, in 1994.
Some would say Fox did a very bad deal with Brady, chasing a name and not truly getting a fair return on the investment (especially given the consensus opinion on his performance in 2024). But, hey, everyone wants to have a cool friend. Tom Brady is the cool friend of the moment. It has gotten him sweetheart deals with the likes of Delta (because Ed Bastin wanted a cool friend), and it got him a below-market stake in the Raiders (because Mark Davis wanted a cool friend). Someone at Fox wanted a cool friend, too — and got one.
It’s not a complaint. It’s an acknowledgement of the reality that there can be very real financial benefits in being someone’s cool friend. Brady has become the GOAT of leveraging cool friendship into cold, hard cash.
