Gambling winnings tax in North Dakota

North Dakota allows gambling losses only if you itemize on your federal return. Take the standard deduction and it taxes your gross winnings. Whether only 90 percent of your losses count from 2026 is not settled.

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

In short

Many casual bettors owe no North Dakota tax on gambling income at all, because for 2026 the 0 percent band runs up to $49,575 single, or $82,800 joint.
If your losses make you itemize on your federal return, you also give up the federal standard deduction on your North Dakota return, because North Dakota starts from your federal taxable income.
North Dakota requires withholding only on North Dakota lottery prizes above $5,000.8

How North Dakota treats gambling losses

5, 6

North Dakota 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 North Dakota rates.

Two examples, worked at 2026 North Dakota 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
North Dakota: $266
Total: $3,862

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. North Dakota allows the loss deduction only to filers who itemize federally, which you do. Your North Dakota income, after the deduction your federal return takes, because North Dakota starts from federal taxable income, goes from $43,900 without the win to $63,200 with it. The extra $19,300 is taxed at graduated rates, which comes to $266.

A winning year

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

Federal: $10,350
North Dakota: $864
Total: $11,214

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. North Dakota allows the loss deduction only to filers who itemize federally, and you do not. Your North Dakota income, after the deduction your federal return takes, because North Dakota starts from federal taxable income, goes from $43,900 without the win to $93,900 with it. The extra $50,000 is taxed at graduated rates, which comes to $864.

North Dakota income tax rates, 2026

Single filer thresholds. Other filing statuses use different bands.

Taxable income	Rate
$0 to $49,575	0 percent
$49,575 to $250,400	1.95 percent
$250,400 and above	2.5 percent

The calculator also applies what this table leaves out: the federal overall limit on itemized deductions at the top federal bracket, taken before the table.

Withholding on winnings

North Dakota withholds 2.5 percent. The payout that triggers it depends on the wager, and the lowest trigger is $5,000. The rules in the state's sources:

the state lottery: above $5,000.
other lotteries, sweepstakes and wagering pools, pari-mutuel wagering, slot machines, keno and bingo, sports wagering, poker tournaments and other wagers: nothing is withheld unless you ask the payer to withhold and it agrees.

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 North Dakota

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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).

North Dakota 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 North Dakota doing anything. North Dakota follows the federal code as it changes.

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.

If you do not live in North Dakota

Income from gambling activity carried on in North Dakota is North Dakota source income. A nonresident files Schedule ND-1NR and prorates.

The calculator works the bill for somebody who lives in North Dakota. It does not apportion income between states, so a nonresident return is not what the figure above describes.

More about North Dakota

The 0 percent band

For 2026 the 0 percent band runs up to $49,575 if you file single, and up to $82,800 if you file jointly. It often absorbs the cost of giving up the federal standard deduction when your losses make you itemize. So many casual bettors owe no North Dakota tax on gambling income at all.

Starting from federal taxable income

North Dakota starts from your federal taxable income. If your losses make you itemize on your federal return, you also give up the federal standard deduction on your North Dakota return.

Your North Dakota return starts from federal taxable income on Form ND-1 line 1b. That is the figure on federal Form 1040 line 15.6

North Dakota has no standard deduction and no itemized deduction of its own.2, 6

The federal 90 percent limit on gambling losses and the federal deduction for seniors both reach your North Dakota return the same way, through the federal taxable income it starts from. North Dakota has no line where a gambling loss could be added back.1, 6

North Dakota has not yet published the 2026 Form ND-1.

Withholding

North Dakota requires withholding only on North Dakota lottery prizes above $5,000. Withholding on other gambling winnings is voluntary.8

About this estimate

The calculator includes the loss of the federal standard deduction when your losses make you itemize on your federal return.

The calculator applies the 90 percent limit for North Dakota. It also shows the figure without the limit, as it does for every state that reaches the limit only through the federal code and does not name it in its own law. For North Dakota that second figure is the less likely one.

Sources

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

1. 2025 North Dakota individual income tax booklet: Form ND-1 starts from federal taxable income, Form 1040 line 15, and the starting point perpetually conforms to the federal computation, the 2025 federal changes included (checked 2026-10-10)
2. N.D.C.C. 57-38-30.3(2): North Dakota taxable income starts from federal taxable income (checked 2026-09-25)
3. N.D.C.C. 57-38-30.3(2), North Dakota taxable income means the federal taxable income of an individual (checked 2026-09-21)
4. Form ND-1ES (2026), SFN 28709, 2026 tax rate schedules (checked 2026-09-11)
5. North Dakota Individual Income Tax Booklet (2025), conformity and rate schedules (checked 2026-09-11)
6. Form ND-1 (2025), line 1b starts at federal taxable income (checked 2026-09-11)
7. N.D.C.C. ch. 57-38, taxable income computed for federal purposes (checked 2026-09-11)
8. ND income tax withholding and information returns guideline (checked 2026-09-11)
9. N.D.C.C. 57-38-30.3(2): North Dakota taxable income means "the federal taxable income of an individual ... as computed under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended", which from 2026 carries the federal overall limit on itemized deductions (checked 2026-10-01)

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

10. 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.