How sports betting winnings are taxed
If you bet on sports, your winnings are taxable income, and the rules got less forgiving for 2026. This guide covers how sportsbook winnings are reported, how loss deductions work under the new cap, and the important way that trading sports markets on Kalshi is taxed differently.
It is educational, not tax advice. Gambling and prediction-market taxation both have unsettled or recently changed pieces, so confirm your situation with a professional.
- All gambling winnings, including sports bets, are taxable and reported as income.
- Gambling losses are only deductible if you itemize, and only up to the amount of your winnings.
- Because you self-report and losses are limited, a complete record of your bets, wins and losses both, is essential.
- Kalshi offers sports markets as event contracts on a CFTC-regulated exchange, not as sportsbook wagers.
- If you trade sports on Kalshi, ContractTax turns your history into a clean net and shows your result under each treatment, including the difference between gambling treatment and the more favorable paths, so you can see what is at stake.
Winnings are ordinary income
All gambling winnings, including sports bets, are taxable and reported as income. Sportsbooks issue a Form W-2G at certain thresholds, but the absence of a W-2G does not make smaller winnings tax-free. You are required to report the income either way.
Winnings are taxed at your ordinary rate. There is no preferential long-term treatment for a sports bet the way there can be for certain trading instruments.
The catch: deducting losses got harder
Gambling losses are only deductible if you itemize, and only up to the amount of your winnings. For tax years beginning after the end of 2025, a further limit applies: only 90 percent of losses can be deducted against winnings.
That 90 percent cap can create phantom income. A bettor who wins and loses roughly equal amounts on paper can still owe tax, because 10 percent of the losses are no longer deductible. For high-volume bettors this is a real and new cost.
Keep records regardless
Because you self-report and losses are limited, a complete record of your bets, wins and losses both, is essential. Sportsbook statements help, but reconstructing a clean annual picture is on you.
Without records, you may end up reporting gross winnings with no offsetting losses, which overstates your bill.
How trading sports on Kalshi differs
Kalshi offers sports markets as event contracts on a CFTC-regulated exchange, not as sportsbook wagers. That distinction matters for taxes: event-contract gains are not automatically gambling income, and some traders take the position that they qualify for Section 1256 treatment, which would avoid the gambling loss cap entirely.
That treatment is contested and not guaranteed, but it is a genuinely different tax posture from a sportsbook bet, and for an active sports trader the difference in how losses are handled can be significant.
Where ContractTax fits
If you trade sports on Kalshi, ContractTax turns your history into a clean net and shows your result under each treatment, including the difference between gambling treatment and the more favorable paths, so you can see what is at stake.
It is educational software, not tax advice, but it makes the comparison concrete instead of theoretical.