Kelly in Vegas: 'Not Defending Tax Bill' But Also 'People Turning it into Bigger Deal Than it Really is'

A a prominent figure in the sports betting industry, Kelly Stewart, also known as Kelly In Vegas suggested "nothing to see here" as it relates to the recent budget bill that would allow gamblers to only declare 90 percent of their losses as opposed to the current 100 percent.  The bill has universally been panned by the sports betting and poker community as a whole.  

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I’m not defending this bill. I do however, think the trust fund “sports bettors” have sensationalized and turned it into a bigger deal than it really is for a vast majority of people it will never affect. https://t.co/rvOmCJTxgF

— Kelly (@kellyinvegas) July 3, 2025

In a nutshell, under the new legislation, if a player were to report winnings of $100,000 and losses of $100,000, the player would still owe taxes on $10,000.

Stewart suggested via an X tweet that the impact would be nominal for most sports bettors at least. 

Tell everyone “In addition to not understanding taxes, I’d like to signal the empty value of my core product” without saying it pic.twitter.com/kb46BJeR1v

— Joe Brennan Jr (@joebrennanjr) July 3, 2025

"I’m not defending this bill. I do however, think the trust fund “sports bettors” have sensationalized and turned it into a bigger deal than it really is for a vast majority of people it will never affect."

One of her followers, Toad, disagreed with this assessment. 

"I don't think so. Margins are razor thin here and this is going to be detrimental."

PBFU responded to her: 

"Kelly is for big government getting involved in gambling and higher taxes on gambling."

Kelly hit back hard:

"No Kelly is in fact not. But Kelly is a realist and instead of panicking her first call was to her accountant who probably hates big government as much as she does. The sensational stories are all for clicks and attention. Nothing else to talk about during baseball season I guess."

Luke asked: 

"Who are the trust fund 'sports bettors' ?"

One of her followers had this to offer: 

"Gambling winnings should not be taxed. Unless gambling losses are made tax deductible for everyone."

She responded: 

"Lots of things shouldn’t be taxed *cough* property taxes on a paid off house, but here we are. Good news my parents social security is no longer taxed, my brothers OT is no longer taxed, he and his wife now get more of a child tax credit. My friends in the bar/restaurant industry won’t pay taxes on their cash tips. People are incredibly selfish and need to look beyond themselves. The same people crying will say “everyone should pay their fair share” while simultaneously excluding themselves."

Kelly also took issue with folks questioning her math. 

"For all the 'you don’t understand math' comments I’ve received over the past 24 hours. I raise you a 'you don’t understand accounting'. US tax codes are often complex. My best advice is spend a dime on year on a good accountant. Don’t worry that’s also a deduction."

Heatwave offered this in response: 

"CPA here Phantom income is a disaster. Hopefully they remove this from the bill. Many will be affected - profitable players especially. Who it won’t affect 1 Big losers that will not have gain because the 90% haircut won’t cut enough loss to make them profitable. 2. Tax cheats I would think that most smaller recreational betters are not claiming gambling income anyway unless they get a big enough win to get a w2g. Then most are probably screwed regardless because they can’t itemize due to not enough losses. My guess is when people say that “it won’t affect most people” that this is what they mean. But if your recreational win is big enough - and you fully document your losses and you still have a gain or even a small loss. It definitely affects you too. Again, hope they kill this."