Bipartisan effort begins to repeal gambling portion of big, beautiful bill.

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, representative Dina Titus (D-NV) introduced the FAIR Bet Act on Monday. The law would restore the gambling deduction to 100 percent.

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 Front Office Sports 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.

Lots of gambling start up and early on operations with drawing in various mob/mafia people.  Italian, Jewish and Irish pooling their resources under the vision of Luciano.  Read on.

From: (Wiki and other sources):

Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States.

Meyer Lansky

Lansky in 1958
Born, Maier Suchowljansky
July 4, 1902
Grodno, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire
Died January 15, 1983 (aged 80)
Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.
Resting place
Mount Nebo Cemetery, Miami, Florida
Nationality, American
Known for Mafia associate, Mafia financier
Spouse(s)
Anna Citron

(m. 1929; div. 1946)
Thelma Schwarz (m. 1948)


A member of the Jewish mob, Lansky developed a gambling empire that stretched around the world. He was said to own points (percentages) in casinos in Las Vegas, Cuba, Miami, and New Orleans. Lansky had a strong influence with the Italian-American Mafia. He played a large role in the consolidation of the criminal underworld by introducing money laundering and offshore banking in 1932, used in the 1950s for cash from the heroin trade. The full extent of this role has been the subject of some debate, as Lansky himself denied many of the accusations against him.

Despite nearly 50 years as a member/participant in organized crime, Lansky was never found guilty of anything more serious than illegal gambling. He was one of the most financially successful gangsters in American history. Before he fled Cuba, Lansky was said to be worth an estimated US$20 million (equivalent to $184 million in 2023).  When he died in 1983, his family learned that his estate was worth only around $57,000 (equivalent to $150,000 in 2023).

Contents
Early life

Maier Suchowljansky was born on July 4, 1902, in Grodno, Russian Empire (now Belarus), to a Polish-Jewish family. When asked his native country, Lansky always responded "Poland".  In 1911, Lansky emigrated to the United States through the port of Odessa[10] with his mother and brother Jacob, and joined his father (who had immigrated in 1909) living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York.

Lansky met Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel when they were children. They became lifelong friends, as well as partners in the bootlegging trade, and together managed the Bugs and Meyer Mob, with its reputation as one of the most violent Prohibition gangs. Lansky was also close friends with Charles "Lucky" Luciano; the two met as teenagers when Luciano attempted to extort Lansky for protection money on his walk home from school. Luciano respected the younger boy's defiant responses to his threats, and the two formed a lasting partnership.  They later associated with veteran gangster Arnold Rothstein until his murder in 1928.

Career

Gambling operations, 1929–1945

Luciano had a vision to form a national crime syndicate in which the Italian, Jewish, and Irish gangs could pool their resources and turn organized crime into a lucrative business for all—an organization he founded after a conference in Atlantic City organized by himself, Lansky, Johnny Torrio, and Frank Costello in May 1929.

Lucky Luciano, Lansky's partner in the American Mafia

Also, as early as 1932, Lansky shifted money from illegal activities in New Orleans to Swiss offshore accounts. The Swiss secrecy law from 1934 sanctioned the money laundering by "banks whose officials knew very well they were working for criminals".  By 1936, Lansky had established gambling operations in Florida and Cuba. These gambling operations were founded upon two innovations:  Lansky and his connections had the technical expertise to manage them effectively based upon Lansky's knowledge of the mathematical odds of most popular wagering games.

Mob connections and bribed law enforcement were used to ensure their establishments' legal and physical security from other crime figures and law enforcement.
There was also an absolute rule of integrity concerning the games and wagers made within their establishments. Lansky's "carpet joints" in Florida and elsewhere were never "clip joints", where gamblers were unsure whether the games were rigged. Lansky ensured that the staff administering the games were of high integrity.

World War II involvement, 1938–1945

In the 1930s, Lansky and his gang stepped outside their usual criminal activities to break up rallies held by the pro-Nazi German-American Bund. He recalled a particular rally in Yorkville, a German neighborhood in Manhattan, that he and 14 associates disrupted:
The stage was decorated with a swastika and a picture of Adolf Hitler. The speakers started ranting. There were only fifteen of us, but we went into action. We threw some of them out the windows. Most of the Nazis panicked and ran out. We chased them and beat them up. We wanted to show them that Jews would not always sit back and accept insults.

When Judge Nathan D. Perlman offered to pay Lansky for his services, he declined:  I am a Jew, and I feel for the Jews in Europe who are suffering. They are my brothers.

During World War II, Lansky was instrumental in helping the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)'s Operation Underworld, in which the government recruited criminals to watch out for German infiltrators and submarine-borne saboteurs. Lansky helped arrange a deal with the government via a high-ranking United States Navy official that secured Luciano's release from prison; in exchange, the Mafia provided security for the warships being built along the docks in New York Harbor. German submarines were sinking Allied ships in great numbers along the eastern seaboard and the Caribbean coast, and there was great fear of attack or sabotage by Nazi sympathizers. Lansky connected the ONI with Luciano, who reportedly instructed Joseph Lanza to prevent sabotage on the New York waterfront.

Flamingo Hotel, 1946–1947

In 1946, Lansky convinced the Italian-American Mafia to put Siegel in charge of Las Vegas, and became a major investor in Siegel's Flamingo Hotel. To protect himself from the type of prosecution that sent Al Capone to prison for tax evasion and prostitution, Lansky transferred his growing casino empire's illegal earnings to a Swiss bank account, where anonymity was assured by the 1934 Swiss Banking Act. Lansky eventually bought an offshore bank in Switzerland, which he used to launder money through a network of shell and holding companies.

In 1946, Lansky attended a secret meeting in Havana to discuss Siegel's management of the Flamingo Hotel, which was running far behind schedule and costing Siegel's Mafia investors a great deal of money. The other bosses wanted to kill Siegel, but Lansky begged them to give his friend a second chance.

Despite this reprieve, Siegel continued to lose money on the Flamingo. A second meeting was then called. By the time the meeting occurred, the casino had turned a small profit. With Luciano's support, Lansky convinced the other investors to give Siegel more time. When the hotel started losing money again, the other investors decided that Siegel was finished. It is widely believed that Lansky was compelled to give the final okay on eliminating Siegel due to his long relationship with him and his stature in the organization.

On June 20, 1947, Siegel was shot and killed in Beverly Hills, California. Twenty minutes later, Lansky's associates, including Gus Greenbaum and Moe Sedway, walked into the Flamingo and took control of it. According to the FBI, Lansky retained a substantial financial interest in the Flamingo for the next 20 years. Lansky said in several interviews later in his life that if it had been up to him, "Ben Siegel would be alive today".

Siegel's death marked a power transfer in Vegas from New York's Five Families to the Chicago Outfit.[citation needed] Although his role was considerably more restrained than in previous years, Lansky is believed to have both advised and aided Chicago boss Tony Accardo in initially establishing his hold.

Cuba, 1946–1959

After World War II, as a reward for his wartime service, Luciano's sentence was commuted to time served. His release was conditioned on his agreeing not to contest the revocation of his American citizenship and accept deportation to his native Italy.  After arriving in Italy, Luciano settled in Sicily. He secretly moved to Cuba, where he worked to resume control over Mafia operations. Luciano also ran a number of casinos in Cuba with the sanction of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Upon discovering Luciano's presence in Cuba and resumption of criminal activity, the U.S. government pressured Batista into deporting Luciano to Italy.

Batista and Lansky formed a renowned friendship and business relationship that lasted a decade. During a stay at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York in the late 1940s, it was mutually agreed that, in exchange for kickbacks, Batista would offer Lansky and the Mafia control of the country's casinos and racetracks.

Batista would open Havana to large-scale gambling, and his government would match, dollar for dollar, any hotel investment over US$1 million, which would include a casino license. Lansky would put himself at the center of Cuba's gambling operations. He immediately called on his associates to hold a summit in Havana.
The Havana Conference was held on December 22, 1946, at the Hotel Nacional. This was the first full-scale meeting of American underworld leaders since the Chicago meeting in 1932. Present were such figures as Joe Adonis, Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia, Frank Costello, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, Vito Genovese, Moe Dalitz, Thomas Luchese, from New York; Santo Trafficante Jr. from Tampa; Carlos Marcello from the New Orleans crime family; and Stefano Magaddino, Bonanno's cousin from Buffalo. From Chicago there were Accardo and the Fischetti brothers, "Trigger-Happy" Charlie and Rocco Fischetti; and, representing the Jewish interest, Lansky, Dalitz and "Dandy" Phil Kastel from Florida.

The first to arrive was Luciano, who secretly traveled to Havana on a false passport. Lansky shared with the attendees his vision of a new Havana, profitable for those willing to invest the right sum of money. According to Luciano, the only attendee who ever recounted the events in any detail, he was appointed as kingpin for the mob, to rule from Cuba until such time as he could find a legitimate way back into the U.S. Entertainment at the conference was provided by, among others, Frank Sinatra, who had flown to Cuba with his friends, the Fischetti brothers.

In 1952, Lansky offered then-President of Cuba Carlos Prío Socarrás a bribe of US$250,000 to step down so Batista could return to power. Once Batista retook control of the government in a military coup in March 1952, he quickly put gambling back on track. Batista offered Lansky an annual salary of US$25,000 to serve as an unofficial gambling minister. By 1955, he had changed the gambling laws again, granting a gaming license to anyone who invested US$1 million in a hotel or US$200,000 in a new nightclub. Unlike the procedure for acquiring gaming licenses in Vegas, this provision exempted venture capitalists from background checks. As long as they made the required investment, they were given public matching funds for construction, a ten-year tax exemption and duty-free importation of equipment and furnishings. The government would get US$250,000 for the license, plus a percentage of the profits from each casino. Cuba's 10,000 slot machines, even the ones that dispensed small prizes for children at country fairs, were to be the province of Roberto Fernandez y Miranda, the brother of Batista's wife, Marta Fernandez Miranda de Batista.

A Cuban army general and government sports director, Fernandez was also given the parking meters in Havana as an extra bonus. Import duties were waived on materials for hotel construction, and Cuban contractors with the right "in" made windfalls by importing much more than was needed and selling the surplus to others for hefty profits. It was rumored that besides the US$250,000 to get a license, sometimes more was required under the table. Periodic payoffs were requested and received by corrupt politicians.
Lansky set about reforming the Cabaret Montmartre, which soon became the "in" place in Havana. He also installed a casino at the Hotel Nacional, relying on Batista's support.

Cuban Revolution and flight to Bahamas (1959 and the 1960s)

The 1959 Cuban Revolution and the rise of Fidel Castro changed the climate for mob investment in Cuba. On New Year's Eve 1958, while Batista was preparing to flee to the Dominican Republic before settling permanently in Francoist Spain, where he died in exile in 1973, Lansky was celebrating the US$3 million he made in the first year of operations at his 440-room, US$8 million palace, the Habana Riviera. Many of the casinos, including several of Lansky's, were looted and destroyed that night. Lansky fled on January 7 to the Bahamas. In Nassau the Bay Street Boys were ruling. On January 8, 1959, Castro and his revolutionaries took control of Havana, setting up a command post in the Hilton. The new Cuban president, Manuel Urrutia Lleó, took steps to close the casinos. In October 1960, Castro nationalized all the island's hotel-casinos and outlawed gambling.

After the revolution, Lansky sought compensation for losses in Cuba from the U.S. government.

Sexual blackmail and J. Edgar Hoover

Lansky is credited with having "controlled" compromising pictures of a sexual nature featuring former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover with his longtime aide Clyde Tolson. In his book, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, Anthony Summers cites multiple primary sources regarding Lansky's use of blackmail to gain influence with politicians, policemen and judges. One stage of the acquisition of blackmail materials was orgies held by late attorney and Hoover protégé Roy Cohn and liquor magnate Lewis Rosenstiel, who had lasting ties with the Mafia from his bootleg operations during Prohibition.

The 2019 release of FBI files on Lansky revealed extensive monitoring and investigation, which makes it harder to explain why Lansky was not pursued to conviction, unless he evaded it by blackmail. Cohn copied this model of blackmail to control politicians and evade conviction himself.

Attempted emigration and trial (1970–72)

In 1970, Lansky fled to Herzliya Pituah, Israel, to escape federal tax evasion charges in the United States. He was a strong sympathizer with Israel.  At the time Israeli law did not permit the extradition of Israeli citizens, and under the Law of Return, any Jew could legally settle in Israel and naturalize. The Israeli government reserved the right to exclude Jews with a criminal past from settling in the country. Two years after his arrival, Lansky was deported back to the U.S. The federal government brought Lansky to trial with the testimony of loan shark Vincent "Fat Vinnie" Teresa. Lansky was acquitted in 1973.

Personal life and death

In 1929 Lansky married Anna Citron, with whom he had three children, before divorcing in 1946. In 1948 he married Thelma Schwartz.

Lansky retired in Miami and spent his last 10 years quietly at his home in Miami Beach, Florida. He died of lung cancer on January 15, 1983, aged 80.

Equity

On paper, Lansky was worth almost nothing at the time of his death. At the time, the FBI believed he left behind over US$300 million in hidden bank accounts but it never found any money. This would be equivalent to $771 million in 2023.

Lansky's biographer Robert Lacey describes his financially strained circumstances in the last two decades of his life and his inability to pay for health care for his handicapped son, who eventually died in poverty. For Lacey, there was no evidence "to sustain the notion of Lansky as king of all evil, the brains, the secret mover, the inspirer and controller of American organized crime". He concludes from evidence including interviews with the surviving members of the family that Lansky's wealth and influence had been grossly exaggerated. His second wife's granddaughter told the author T. J. English that at the time of his death in 1983, Lansky left only $57,000 in cash, equivalent to $147,000 in 2023 terms.  When asked in his later years what went wrong in Cuba, Lansky said, "I crapped out". He told people he had lost almost every penny in Cuba and was barely getting by.
Hank Messick, a journalist for the Miami Herald who spent years investigating Lansky, said that the key to understanding Lansky lay with the people around him, "Meyer Lansky doesn't own property. He owns people". To him, the FBI, and Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, the reality was that Lansky had kept large sums of money in other people's names for decades and that keeping very little in his own was nothing new to him.

In 2010, Lansky's daughter Sandra publicly said that her father had transferred $15 million to his brother's account sometime in the early 1970s, when Lansky was having problems with the IRS.  How much money Lansky really had will probably never be known. Since the warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba in 2015, Lansky's grandson, Gary Rapoport, has been asking the Cuban government to compensate him for the confiscation of the Riviera hotel his grandfather built in Havana.

"If your dreams don't scare you, THEY AREN'T BIG ENOUGH"

Muhammad Ali

Three high-profile Illinois casinos have now faced allegations over contractors with reputed mob ties

https://chicago.suntimes.com/casinos-gambling/2025/07/03/ballys-casino-chicago-illinois-gaming-board-grand-victoria-elgin-rivers-casino-des-plaines-pritzker-fines

There are winners and losers.  Period.  End of story as well as the start of refreshing chapters for countless players of all types. 'Real' players that engage in the game of Baccarat experience both. 

Realize it.  Seriously,  when you chase and attempt recouping, you will normally not recover and lose further amounts.  Problem that compounds the losing session is the few times we all have recovered in the past.  Come on guys, admit it and be honest with yourselves. 

IMO and that of so many other well seasoned players is to take the loss up front and walk away.  No, not easy to do.  But starting another day on a 'clean slate' is to your advantage heads over heels. 

Negativity and frustration are the two worst factors at the table, none worse.  Why?  Because a losing player is going to focus on what they want to happen rather than what is actually happening.  And that applies to the shoe/session in front of you as well as a period of time for a losing player. 

Hence, everything can either be interpreted with simplicity or complexity at the tables within the game of Baccarat.

You must figure out the simple and the complex issues in playing the game of Baccarat that pertains to yourself. Because the complex issues ultimately build you up and cause you frustration, emotional disturbance and financial losses. The simple issues allow you to concentrate and profit the majority of times if you can find advantages and have a rock solid Money Management Method that you employ.

The simple and complex issues both establish the difference and define the good and bad while playing the game. They make the difference between existing within the grind and loss and of course, knowing the path to walk down while playing for some kind of profit.

I witness it time and time again with virtually every casino visit.  Winning in the short run with clear and fresh approaches to the session and then the player's over thinking and overwhelming themselves with the complexities of issues/agendas/protocols/wagering plans/what the shoe is presenting/etc.  Then their win money, buy-in and additional buy-ins are voluntarily donated to the casino, while they overwhelm themselves in the complexities they cannot remove themselves from. 

So totally impress yourself and show yourself that you are better than before. Convince yourself it's not about beating the others at the table or even the casino. Realize and live with, it's only you versus you.

Define the difference between the simple and the complex issues/agendas/protocols/wagering plans/what the shoe is presenting/etc., within the game.  You will be a better player once you can take advantage of them with a simple understanding.

Real life examples will be summarized later tonight. 

Later, stay safe, stay well.

Reference number of cards to decide a hand, combination of cards, expected or unexpected, etc., etc.  It is possible to win in bac with anything that is being presented if (IF) your wager is in the correct spot.

Anything and Everything happens in baccarat with basically an equal amount of shoes versus any non equal cluster of shoes.  Meaning, chop-chops, doubles, triples, 1s and 2s, 1s and 3s, chops and then 6-7-8 iar, etc., etc., etc.  all happens extremely frequently.  Streaks of say 9iar and greater do not, however they do come out and can also be large and easy money makers or detrimental killers to those wagering with or against. 

I can't phantom playing for days on end, week after week, month after month, to witness the highest amount of shoes played out. 

I have believed in and prospered more than I did not, since subscribing to the player's Sections, Plateau, Tier Level, and a rock solid Money Management Method while deploying an aggressive pos-progressive wagering technique. 

And any session will be held to part of a shoe to a max of 3 shoes.  Anything greater IMO, experience and discussion upon countless brick & mortar bac players are detrimental to the player's advantage. 

Just my thought from my experiences:

https://betselection.cc/wagering-intricacies/you-must-figure-out/msg72871/?topicseen#msg72871

The drop in visitation to Las Vegas and decline in hotel occupancy show no signs of slowing down over the summer, considering the reports that came out last week.

https://cdcgaming.com/las-vegas-drop-in-tourism-and-gaming-revenue-shows-no-sign-of-slowing/

One of the most fantastic and complete rainbows I have ever seen!

I mentioned a Players IAR run of 9.  From HMoney's notes on this, here is the run of 9.  Although I do not (DO NOT) believe in previously drawn cards influencing the next hand, I do believe in, 'go with what is being presented'. 

P 4/J  flop 4.  B A/K flop Q
P 10/5 flop 4.  B 10/7
P 8/6  flop 5.  B 10/2 flop 9
P 3/5          B A/A
P 2/2  flop 5.  B 6/8 flop 10
P 9/A  flop 5.  B 8/4 flop 2
P 3/10 flop 5.  B 4/2
P 4/9  flop Q.  B 7/3 flop 2

Stop with the likes and dislikes in playing the game of bac.  When you can't beat something, you join it.  Lots of people where I play are not favorites of wagering the Players side. But when they are getting cards to either kill the Bankers side or just squeeze by, $750 or $1,000 or greater on the Players and just keep pulling down the winnings until it cuts, is nice! 

They have to (HAVE TO) do something and it is starting.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/strip-casino-ditching-resort-fees-this-summer-3387482/

Did rather well.  Stayed longer than anticipated, but friend was hell-bent to profit at least $10k and he was hovering around $6-7k.  Finally he did it and we colored up and left Chicago. 

I must say they do not nickel and dime their players, at least those playing black and purple at the bac table for comps.  They offer nice meals and snacks without even having play history once they see what you are wagering, etc.  I'm talking about $50.00-$100.00 comps. 

More later.

Two shoes advise played.

First was extremely choppy in the beginning.  Mostly 2 card draws both sides.  Very close together, like Players 6 and Bankers 7, Or one side a Natural 8 and the other a Natural 9.  8-9 hands. 

Then a Players IAR streak of 9, followed by 2 and 3 IAR Bankers with mostly a single Players hand, maybe one double Players out of at least 12 additional after the 9 IAR appearing. 

1s and 3s the final 20% or so of the shoe. 

Will add additional tomorrow. 

We are staying off property and enjoying some great food places. 

  Tried to take a pic of the score board but the floor people had an atomic fit about it.

Played half a shoe (second half), mostly chop chop and some doubles.  Did pretty good.  We are going to play another shoe in bit from the beginning. 

First half of the shoe had a run of 11 for the Players and a run of 6 Bankers followed by a single Player and then 7 additional Bankers. 

Almost there with another bac friend.  Stopped to get gas and had a late breakfast. 

Seems these Chinese players got caught as most all eventually do because of their own greed and believing they can outsmart the system. 

Anyone remember the Tran Organization??


https://www.casino.org/news/multi-state-baccarat-scam-nets-1-5m-cops-hunt-cheating-ring/

https://cdcgaming.com/brief/six-charged-in-1-5m-baccarat-cheating-scheme-at-casinos-across-the-usa/