Alabama gambling tax calculator
Alabama allows gambling losses only as an itemized deduction on the state return, whether or not you itemize federally. Take its standard deduction and it taxes your gross winnings. Whether only 90 percent of your losses count from 2026 is not settled.
Your estimate
Enter your state, winnings, and losses to see an estimate.
Checked against Alabama’s own sources on 2026-09-25.
How Alabama treats gambling losses
Alabama does not tie the deduction to your federal itemizing choice. You can itemize on the Alabama return even if you take the federal standard deduction, but the losses count only if you do, in place of Alabama's standard deduction.
The two examples below are the same numbers the calculator uses, worked at Alabama rates.
Two examples, worked at 2026 Alabama rates
A single filer with $60,000 of other income who takes the standard deduction on everything except gambling losses.
A losing year
You win $50,000 and lose $52,000, so you finish down $2,000.
- Federal
- $3,596
- Alabama
- $105
- Total
- $3,701
You finished the year down and still owe tax.
Federally you itemize, so your losses offset your winnings, but the 2026 rule caps that deduction at 90 percent and leaves $3,200 taxable. Alabama lets you deduct gambling losses as an itemized deduction on the state return, whether or not you itemize federally. Your Alabama income, after the larger of the standard deduction and your itemized deductions, and your $1,500 personal exemption, and after the federal income tax it lets you deduct, goes from $50,980 without the win to $53,084 with it. The extra $2,104 is taxed at 5 percent, which comes to $105.
A winning year
You win $50,000 and lose $10,000, so you finish up $40,000.
- Federal
- $10,350
- Alabama
- $1,658
- Total
- $12,008
Federally you take the $16,100 standard deduction, which is worth more than itemizing, so your gambling losses do not reduce your federal tax at all. Alabama lets you deduct gambling losses as an itemized deduction on the state return, whether or not you itemize federally. Your Alabama income, after the larger of the standard deduction and your itemized deductions, and your $1,500 personal exemption, and after the federal income tax it lets you deduct, goes from $50,980 without the win to $84,130 with it. The extra $33,150 is taxed at 5 percent, which comes to $1,658.
The rules behind these numbers
- Sports betting taxes, start to finish
- The 90 percent loss deduction, and where it bites hardest
- What a W-2G tells you, and what it does not
- Where winnings and losses go on your return, and estimated tax
- Per wager or per session, and why it changes your bill
- Filing as a professional, and what it does not fix