What was Lucas Jumalon's actual winnings in the 2026 WSOP Main Event?

2026 WSOP Main Event champion Lucas Jumalon's $10 million prize money will net him approximately $6 million after taxes. This article provides a detailed analysis of the tax burden and actual prize money for the nine finalists.

Lucas Jumalon won the 2026 WSOP Main Event but didn't actually take home $10 million, while Jamie Shaevel instantly lost more than half of his final table winnings.

No, Shaevel didn't lose his money at the Citibank dice table. He lives in California—the state with the highest state income tax in the US. As for the champion, the IRS also took a large slice of his winnings.

Russell Fox, a federal tax expert at Clayton Financial and Tax in Las Vegas, writes his annual WSOP Main Event final table tax blog post. Each year, he reveals how much of the prize money each participant actually takes home after paying local, state, and federal taxes. Note that these payouts do not include payments to sponsors.

As Fox explained, Shaevel will only pay slightly more than 10% ($157,127) in taxes to his state of residence for his seventh-place $1,500,000 prize. He will also have to pay $598,373 to the IRS, bringing his total tax burden to 50.37%, the highest of the final table.

Canadian athletes have the most advantage

In terms of taxation, the two Canadian players at the final table—Rami Hammoud and Greg "FBT" Mueller—performed the best. Mueller, with an enthusiastic support group of family and friends at the final table, ultimately finished third and won $3,750,000.

On the surface, the gap between third and second place appears quite significant—runner-up Lauri Saaskilahti earned $6,000,000, a difference of $2,250,000. However, after deducting expected taxes, Saaskilahti will ultimately only earn about $600,000 more than the competitor who finished just one place behind.

As Fox wrote, Saaskilahti is a Finnish poker player residing in Spain. Under the US-Spain tax treaty (which prevents double taxation), he is exempt from paying any US income tax. However, he still owes approximately $2,773,000 to the Spanish tax authority, Egencia Tributaria.

On the other hand, Mueller is reportedly a semi-retired poker player, which presents a significant tax difference compared to active professionals. Given his apparent professional status, "FBT" is expected to pay approximately 30% in winnings to the IRS, ultimately receiving $2,628,000 out of a total of $3,750,000.

Another Canadian player, Hammoud, finished sixth and won $1,750,000. He is an amateur poker player from Montreal who works as an analytics manager and is exempt from Canadian income tax. However, he still needs to pay approximately $522,000 to the IRS, roughly 30% of his WSOP winnings.

How much did the poker champion actually win?

Jumalon, a 22-year-old player from Washington state, paid the most taxes, which was expected given his highest prize money. However, according to Fox's calculations, his tax rate of 39.91% is only mid-range for a final table player.

The newly crowned world champion will pay a total of $3,990,826 in federal and self-employment taxes, netting $6,009,174 before paying any sponsors. Jumalon is the second youngest champion in WSOP Main Event history and the first from Washington state. He aspires to become a poker ambassador, so this may not be his last time paying millions of dollars to the IRS.

New Jersey resident and professional poker player Michael Gagliano faces a similar tax bill to Shaevel. The fourth-place finisher, who won $2,750,000, will have to pay federal, self-employment, and state income taxes totaling $1,330,683, or 48.391 TP3T of his winnings—the second-highest total at the final table.

Of the $30,250,000 in prize money won by the nine finalists, $12,273,963 is expected to be used for tax purposes.

2026 WSOP Main Event Final Table After-Tax Prize Money

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