Gambling winnings tax in Maine

Maine allows gambling losses only if you itemize on your federal return. It caps itemized deductions other than medical and dental expenses, gambling losses included, at $37,100, so a large losing year still produces a state tax bill. Whether only 90 percent of your losses count from 2026 is not settled.

Checked against Maine’s own sources on 2026-09-25.

In short

A large win can shrink or remove your Maine deduction. Your winnings count in Maine adjusted gross income, and Maine phases out the deduction as that income goes up.12
If you win a large amount, Maine can give you almost no deduction for losses and tax your gross winnings.
For 2026, Maine adds a 2 percent surcharge on taxable income above $1,000,000 if you file single. The line is different for other filing statuses.11

How Maine treats gambling losses

7, 8, 12

Maine allows the deduction only to filers who itemize on the federal return. Take the federal standard deduction and the offset disappears, so gross winnings are taxed even in a year you finished down.

The two examples below are the same numbers the calculator uses, worked at Maine rates.

Two examples, worked at 2026 Maine 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
Maine: $2,216
Total: $5,812

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. Maine allows the loss deduction only to filers who itemize federally, which you do. It caps itemized deductions other than medical and dental expenses, gambling losses included, at $37,100. It phases out your whole deduction, standard or itemized, as income rises. Your Maine income, after Maine's standard deduction, or your itemized deductions where you itemize federally and they are larger, and your $5,300 personal exemption, goes from $39,000 without the win to $71,432 with it. The extra $32,432 is taxed at graduated rates, which comes to $2,216.

A winning year

You win $50,000 and lose $10,000, so you finish up $40,000.

Federal: $10,350
Maine: $3,588
Total: $13,938

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. Maine allows the loss deduction only to filers who itemize federally, and you do not. It phases out your whole deduction, standard or itemized, as income rises. Your Maine income, after Maine's standard deduction, or your itemized deductions where you itemize federally and they are larger, and your $5,300 personal exemption, goes from $39,000 without the win to $90,622 with it. The extra $51,622 is taxed at graduated rates, which comes to $3,588.

Maine income tax rates, 2026

Single filer thresholds. Other filing statuses use different bands.

Taxable income	Rate
$0 to $27,400	5.8 percent
$27,400 to $64,850	6.75 percent
$64,850 to $1,000,000	7.15 percent
$1,000,000 and above	9.15 percent

The calculator also applies what this table leaves out: a personal exemption that falls as income rises, taken before the table and a phase-out of the standard or itemized deduction as income rises, taken before the table.

Withholding on winnings

Maine withholds 7.15 percent on winnings above $5,000.

Maine’s withholding table ties this to the federal rule, 26 U.S.C. 3402(q), and for lotteries and horse and dog races names odds of at least 300 to 1.

Withholding is a credit against the bill, not the bill itself. It does not settle what you owe.

The federal 90 percent loss limit in Maine

7, 9, 16

From tax year 2026 the federal deduction for gambling losses is cut to 90 percent of what you lost, and never more than what you won. Public Law 119-21 did it, at section 70114(a), by rewriting 26 U.S.C. 165(d).

Maine has not said whether the federal 90 percent limit applies. Its own law measures the state deduction by the federal figure, so the limit can arrive without Maine doing anything. Maine follows the federal code as it stood on 2025-12-31.

Our estimate assumes the limit applies, which gives the higher tax. The calculator also shows the tax if the limit does not apply. We would rather tell you the number could be lower than let you plan around one that turns out to be too low.

More about Maine

Maine’s own standard deduction

From 2026 Maine has its own standard deduction. It is a basic amount plus the federal amount for age: $2,050 if you are unmarried and 65 or older, or $1,650 for each married person 65 or older. The basic amounts are:4, 3, 5

Filing status	Basic amount
Head of household	$23,550
Married filing jointly or surviving spouse	$31,400
Single or married filing separately	$15,700

You must take it if you take the federal standard deduction. You also take it if you itemize federally and your Maine itemized deductions are less. Maine then phases out whichever deduction applies, so a win can increase the phase-out and also make you give up the standard deduction.4, 5

How a win shrinks your deduction

Maine phases out your deduction as your Maine adjusted gross income goes up. The phase-out starts at a point for your filing status, and your deduction reaches zero a set amount above it:12

Filing status	Phase-out starts at	Deduction is zero this much above
Single or married filing separately	$102,250	$75,000
Head of household	$153,400	$112,500
Married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse	$204,550	$150,000

Your winnings count in that income, so a large win can itself push you into the range that removes the deduction for it.12

For example, a single filer with $60,000 of other income who wins and loses $60,000 has $120,000 of Maine adjusted gross income and keeps about three quarters of the deduction. At $177,250 they keep none of it.

If you win a large amount, Maine can give you almost no deduction for losses. For example, a single filer with $500,000 of winnings and $480,000 of losses has Maine adjusted gross income of about $500,000. That is far past the point where the phase-out ends, so Maine itemized deductions go to zero and Maine taxes the gross winnings.

Medical and dental expenses are not under the $37,100 cap on Maine itemized deductions, but the phase-out still reduces them.12

The surcharge on very high incomes

For 2026 Maine adds a 2 percent surcharge on taxable income above a line for your filing status:11

Filing status	Surcharge on taxable income above
Single	$1,000,000
Married filing separately	$750,000
Married filing jointly, head of household or surviving spouse	$1,500,000

The personal exemption

For 2026 Maine gives a personal exemption of $5,300, or $10,600 on a joint return. If someone else can claim you as a dependent, you get none, and Maine gives no exemption for your own dependents. The exemption shrinks in a straight line once your Maine adjusted gross income is over $341,000 single, $375,050 head of household, $409,150 joint or $204,575 married filing separately. It is gone $125,000 above that line, or $62,500 above it if you file separately, so a large win can take it away.14, 15

About this estimate

The calculator measures the phase-out on your federal adjusted gross income, less any Social Security you enter, which Maine exempts. It does not include other Maine additions and subtractions. If you have large ones, your real phase-out will be different.

On a separate return Maine gives a second $5,300 exemption for a spouse with no gross income. The calculator leaves it out.

Sources

Every figure above traces to a primary source: a statute, an administrative code, a state agency page, or official form instructions.

1. 36 M.R.S. 5219-KK: the Property Tax Fairness Credit, 4 percent of income, up to $2,000 at 65 or older (checked 2026-10-12)
2. 2025 Form 1040ME Schedule PTFC/STFC, line 8: $4,100 at 65 or older (checked 2026-10-12)
3. Maine Revenue Services 2026 rate schedules: standard deduction of $15,700, $23,550 and $31,400, and the additional amount for age of $1,650 married or $2,050 unmarried (checked 2026-10-11)
4. MRS summary of 2026 legislative changes: 36 M.R.S. 5124-C(1-C), standard deduction of $15,700, $23,550 and $31,400 for tax years beginning in 2026, plus the amount allowed under IRC 63(c)(3), subject to phase-out (checked 2026-10-11)
5. 2025 Form 1040ME general instructions: a federal itemizer takes the Maine standard deduction if Schedule 2 gives less (checked 2026-09-25)
6. MRS individual income tax rate schedules (2026, revised) (checked 2026-09-11)
7. 36 M.R.S. 5125, itemized deduction dollar cap and income phase-out (checked 2026-09-11)
8. Form 1040ME general instructions (2025), deduction method must match federal (checked 2026-09-11)
9. MRS summary of 2026 legislative changes, conformity through December 31, 2025 (checked 2026-09-11)
10. MRS withholding tables and instructions (2026), gambling withholding (checked 2026-09-11)
11. MRS summary of 2026 legislative changes, 2 percent income tax surcharge (checked 2026-10-06)
12. MRS 2026 Worksheet for Phaseout of Itemized / Standard Deductions, the phase-out arithmetic under 36 M.R.S. 5124-C(2) and 5125(7), and the footnote setting the maximum 2026 Maine itemized deductions other than medical and dental at $37,100 (checked 2026-09-16)
13. 2026 Maine itemized and standard deduction phase-out worksheet (checked 2026-09-25)
14. MRS 2026 Worksheet for Phaseout of Personal Exemption Deduction Amount: $5,300, or $10,600 joint, reduced above $341,000 single, $375,050 head of household, $409,150 joint or $204,575 separate, over $125,000, or $62,500 separate (checked 2026-10-11)
15. 36 M.R.S. 5126-A, the personal exemption for the filer and a spouse, with no exemption for a dependent, phased out on Maine adjusted gross income (checked 2026-10-11)

The federal rule, for the parts of this page that rest on it

16. Public Law 119-21 section 70114(a), which rewrote 26 U.S.C. 165(d) on wagering losses from tax year 2026 and sets out its text (checked 2026-10-18)

We could not confirm these from an official source: whether any city or county tax applies; how the state treats a non-resident.