A lawmaker has drawn sports betting into one of the hottest political topics in the US.
US Rep. Mike Rulli, a Republican from Ohio, has proposed using the federal US sports betting excise tax to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The Giving Alien Migrants Back Through Lawful Excise Redistribution Act, or GAMBLER Act, would send an estimated $300 million to a Border Enforcement Trust Fund at the US Treasury for ICE.
“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. “Our neighborhoods are being overrun, our laws ignored, and our voices silenced by an out-of-touch elite that refuses to act.”
Rulli’s proposal comes as ICE is increasingly in the news during the second Trump Administration.
ICE needs cash
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has led to a dire cash need for ICE. ICE is already $1 billion over budget through nine months of the fiscal year, according to a recent Axios report.
Lawmakers from both parties are reportedly “alarmed by the spending” and believe the administration could soon break the law by spending too much. Lawmakers are considering Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which would send an extra $75 billion to ICE over the next five years.
Rep. Mark Amodei, the top Republican on the House Department of Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee, told Axios that if there is any “hiccup” in the budget, “those concerns are all capital ‘C’ concerns.”
Sports betting excise tax history
Lawmakers established the 0.25% tax on US sports betting handle in 1951. Their goal was to help counter offshore and illegal sportsbook operators.
Operators have paid more than $1.3 billion in excise tax since PASPA’s repeal in 2018. However, the funds have no assigned purpose.
Since 2014, Rep. Dina Titus has championed an effort to repeal the excise tax. This year, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler joined her proposal, and did so in 2019 and 2021 as well.
Earlier this year, Rep. Andrea Salinas and Sen. Richard Blumenthal proposed using the excise tax funds in their Gambling Addiction Recovery, Investment and Treatment Act.
