Who would have thought there would be an intersection between legal U.S. sports betting and immigration? That’s exactly what Republican Ohio Rep. Mike Rulli is proposing with a bill that would redirect proceeds from the federal wagering excise tax to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
As immigration-related protests continue in California and continue to spread across the U.S., Rulli dropped HB 3929, called the “Giving Alien Migrants Back through Lawful Excise Redistribution (GAMBLER) Act,” Wednesday. The text of the bill has not yet been posted on Congress’ website, but the gist is that all proceeds from the excise tax collected by the U.S. government from legal sports betting companies would be sent to ICE rather than the general fund. Operators are charged one-quarter of 1% of handle.
According to the Tax Foundation, the Internal Revenue Service does not make the amount of excise taxes available. But by aggregating state data on sports betting handle and revenue, the Tax Foundation estimates that $373 million was collected in 2024.
The bill was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on the Judiciary.
“Working-class Americans are paying the price while blue states and sanctuary cities harbor millions of illegal aliens who wave foreign flags in our streets, vandalize property, and drain resources meant for our own citizens,” Rulli said in a statement, per WFMJ. “Our neighborhoods are being overrun, our laws ignored, and our voices silenced by an out-of-touch elite that refuses to act.”
Tax previously targeted by RG, or for removal
The federal excise tax on sports betting has been a point of contention within the gambling industry. Previously, the “Gambling Addiction Recovery, Investment, and Treatment (GRIT) Act” proposed that half of the excise be directed to gambling addiction treatment and research. And Nevada Rep. Dina Titus has long been pushing for the excise tax to be removed.
The tax dates to 1951, when it was created to help combat organized crime in the gambling sector. But the money is no longer used for that purpose.
In February, Titus introduced the latest bill to eliminate the tax, which she calls “discriminatory.” Titus and Pennsylvania Republican Guy Reschenthaler have introduced four bills to repeal the tax since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was repealed in May 2018.
“Illegal sportsbooks do not pay the .25% sports handle tax and the accompanying $50-per-head tax on sportsbook employees, giving them an unfair advantage,” Titus said via press release in February. “It makes no sense to give the illegal market an edge over legal sportsbooks with a tax the federal government doesn’t even track.”
Rulli’s proposal would keep the excise tax in place, and it would continue to be used for purposes not related to gambling.
