Dana White Publicly Asks President Trump to Reverse Unpopular Change to Gambling Taxes

Credit: Andrius Petrucenia/Wikimedia Commons

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White is publicly appealing to the president to repeal an unpopular gambling tax change that caps deductions at 90% of losses.

Under the terms of the tax change, gamblers could be taxed on income they never actually made. A break-even gambler who cashed for $50,000, for example, would owe taxes on $5,000 in gambling “winnings.”

The change negatively affects White in multiple ways, both personally and professionally. He has a well-documented history as a high-dollar gambler in Las Vegas, so it could cost him a pile in tax liability. The UFC has also been one of the most gambling-forward sports leagues for years.

While White thanked Trump for his budget policy in general, he noted in his letter that the policy makes it “irrational” to bet in the U.S. right now. The UFC counts many Trump supporters among its fans, while White and Trump are known to be close, with a UFC event scheduled to take place at the White House next month.

“When legal betting is discouraged, it hurts the ecosystem we’ve spent years building in partnership with state regulators and licensed operators,” White wrote. “Fixing this deduction issue would send a strong signal that the United States supports common-sense regulation.”

Timeline of Gambling Tax Change

Dana White May Have Selfish Motivations on Gambling Tax Deduction

White himself stands to potentially lose quite a bit of money due to the deduction cap.

White has never been shy about his propensity for high-dollar blackjack and other casino games. Last year, reports emerged that White had gambling debts in the tens of millions of dollars. A deep dive by The Hollywood Reporter suggested he owed as much as $50 million to one casino company. It noted that since Red Rock, the casino company in question, is owned by White’s business partners, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, he may not be under serious pressure to pay.

White called the story “clickbait bullshit.”

While he’s well-compensated and has an estimated net worth in the hundreds of millions, nobody likes paying exorbitant taxes, and high-dollar gamblers are the most vulnerable to the change. If White is wagering millions of dollars per year, that opens him up to the possibility of paying some staggering tax sums on “phantom income.”

A gambler of White’s means could easily place millions or tens of millions of casino bets in a single year, usually winning back most of that. However, the tax changes mean that break-even or slight-winning years can turn into losses.

If a wealthy gambler grosses $21 million across his winning sessions during a year, but also books $20 million in his losing sessions, he’d net $1 million. However, he’d pay taxes on $3 million in winnings. In a high-earning tax bracket, that could easily erase all profits and then some.

As White suggested in his letter, he has the president’s ear. The two have frequently appeared in public together over the years. White has been a donor and backer of Trump’s dating to his first term. He has appeared at multiple Trump rallies and was present for his 2025 inauguration. Trump frequently attends UFC events as well.

Early market indicators suggest White’s influence is very real here. A Kalshi prediction market speculating on a repeal of the deduction cap by year’s end was sitting at about 19% before White’s letter became public. After the letter hit the newswire, the odds for a repeal rocketed to 38% before settling back at 32%.

UFC Could Also Benefit from Gambling Tax Deductions

Apart from potentially saving White six figures or more in tax liability, White’s business interests also stand to benefit from a potential repeal.

For one thing, the UFC holds many events in Las Vegas. That gives the company an obvious motivation to have gambling taxes be as player-friendly as possible. The happier customers are to travel to Las Vegas, attend events, and gamble, the better the live-gate revenue is going to be for the UFC.

Conversely, the more Las Vegas struggles, the more live-gate revenue is likely to suffer. As White says, if it doesn’t make sense for people to bet, it follows that it doesn’t make sense for them to travel to Vegas to patronize UFC events and gamble on them.

The UFC has also been aggressive in seeking to monetize gambling on its product. It was the first to embrace gambling odds and give them a prominent place on its broadcasts. Today’s UFC events show the closing odds for each fighter just before the fight begins.

And while other leagues have been slow to embrace prediction markets, the UFC enthusiastically jumped aboard. The league inked a deal with Polymarket last November, promising to integrate prediction odds into broadcasts.

The UFC has not been shy about wanting fans to bet on its product, and White undoubtedly understands that legislation discouraging such activity is bad for business.

Image credit: Andrius Petrucenia/Wikimedia Commons (license)

Mo Nuwwarah

Poker & iGaming Expert

Mo Nuwwarah is a gambling industry writer with extensive experience covering poker and sports betting, while also exploring the emerging prediction market verticals. He has more than a decade of experience in the industry after graduating from journalism school in 2011.

Visit Profile

Players trust our reporting due to our commitment to unbiased and professional evaluations of the iGaming sector. We track hundreds of platforms and industry updates daily to ensure our news feed and leaderboards reflect the most recent market shifts. With nearly two decades of experience within iGaming, our team provides a wealth of expert knowledge. This long-standing expertise enables us to deliver thorough, reliable news and guidance to our readers.