Casino City’s Friday Five: Gambling loss deduction and fraud edition

Another busy week of gambling news this week, from a proposed change to the way gamblers deduct losses on their taxes to new developments in prediction markets and a pair of crypto fraud charges.

The gambling loss deduction bill that was introduced in July 2025, continues to receive quite a bit of pushback against it. Also this week, we have Connecticut cracking down on prediction markets, a new prediction market launching from Genius Sports, and a major win from California.

Let’s start this Friday off with a seven-figure cash:

5. $5 wager turned into nearly $2 million at Yaamava’ Resort and Casino at San Manuel
A Rancho Cucamonga resident struck it big at Yaamava' Resort & Casino at San Manuel, winning a nearly $2 million progressive jackpot while playing Ultimate Texas Hold'em.

The guest placed a $5 progressive wager at the Southern California casino and hit a rare five-card royal flush in diamonds, resulting in a $1,977,758 payout.

$1,977,758 looks good on Veng. ?? pic.twitter.com/HRoMFSUAcx
— Yaamava' Resort & Casino (@Yaamava) September 14, 2026

4. CT orders nine prediction markets to cease operations
Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut Consumer Protection Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli announced that the State of Connecticut is taking a series of actions aimed at curbing illegal prediction market operations in Connecticut.

Last week, the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection issued nine cease-and-desist orders to companies illegally operating prediction markets in the state. All nine platforms are ordered to immediately cease and desist advertising, offering, promoting, or otherwise making available “sports event contracts” or any other form of unlicensed online gambling to Connecticut residents.

Additionally, DCP issued nearly 30 subpoenas to gaming service provider license holders and Connecticut media outlets.

3. Genius Sports launches Prediction.com
Earlier this week, Genius Sports launched Prediction.com, a new consumer platform that enables users to discover prediction markets, compare equivalent event contracts across multiple platforms and follow how market probabilities change as events unfold.

Prediction.com brings markets and pricing from major prediction platforms into a single destination, allowing users to see how equivalent contracts are priced across different venues.

For sports markets, Prediction.com combines Genius Sports’ live game data with real-time prediction market pricing. Its in-game experience allows fans to follow play-by-play action alongside changing probabilities, prices and market signals.

??? "Prediction markets did not invent the desire to wager on a sporting outcome. They offer another way to express it, and what is durable is the demand underneath."

Following our prediction market analysis earlier this week, we have today announced the launch of… pic.twitter.com/cEhBT9llWS
— Genius Sports (@GeniusSports) September 17, 2026

2. Gambling loss deduction fix clears House Committee
Congresswoman Dina Titus’s provision restoring the 100% tax deduction on gambling losses passed out of committee. She is now urging House leadership to expeditiously bring her fix to the floor.

Congresswoman Titus was the first member of Congress to recognize the injustice of ending the full deduction and introduced her bipartisan FAIR BET Act on 7 July 2025, to correct it. Since then, other measures have been introduced mirroring the language in her bill. The House Ways and Means Committee included one of those measures in approving H.R. 10357, the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act.

1. Two Robinhood employees charged with fraud
Two former Robinhood engineers face fraud charges stemming from alleged insider trading involving upcoming cryptocurrency listings.

Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang, a/k/a “Jerry Xiang,” have been charged with commodities fraud and wire fraud arising from a scheme to misappropriate confidential business information from their employer, Robinhood Markets, Inc., and use that information to trade perpetual futures on Hyperliquid.

Chai and XIANG were employed as engineers at Robinhood. In connection with their roles at Robinhood, Chai and XIANG had access to nonpublic information regarding whether and when Robinhood would support additional cryptocurrencies for trading on Robinhood Crypto, a Robinhood subsidiary that operates a digital asset trading platform.