I posted not so long ago that I lost about $150,000 gambling in 2024. In a later blog I remarked that using a coupon for a breakfast buffet at the South Point, incurring a $2 tip, was a good value. A reader, who posts under the name of “Mike,” in separate posts, called me out for the size of the tip and commented that after losing $150,000 in a year, worrying about spending a few dollars on a meal seemed ironic to him. I took his posts as gentle teasing, but decided to respond.
On the matter of tipping, all I will say is that I generally tip modestly. If a buffet server only brings drinks, I do not tip the same as if they take and serve the food order as well. Everybody has their own rules for tipping and that’s how I do it. You can tease me about it if you want, but I’m unlikely to change.
But finding it ironic that I was able to lose $150,000 and still “count pennies” in a different situation means Mike really doesn’t understand my methods.
Before calendar year 2024 began, I had every expectation that I would have a nice score during that year. The previous year was quite good, and I had a number of “good plays” in out-of-town casinos that I expected to be profitable. In the 32 tax years between 1993 and 2024 inclusive, I’ve had a positive score 26 of the 32 years. If I start having negative years back-to-back-to-back, I’ll conclude that I’ve lost my touch. There’s no doubt that I make more mistakes now than when I was younger, and the games are definitely tighter, but I still have enough skill and moxie to succeed. For how much longer this will be true, I don’t know.
Author’s note: the previous sentence was written before I had any idea the new tax bill would drastically change things for gamblers. It is very possible I am near the end of my gambling days, not because of lack of success but because of the crippling tax law that is soon to be in effect.
Every day I gambled in 2024, possibly 280 or so, I was playing situations, both video poker and slots and a minor-yet-important amount of sports betting, where I believed I had the edge, all things considered. I managed my sleep as best I could, so I was at my best when I played. Every hand was played as well as I could (although undoubtedly, I made more mistakes than I used to.)
Frugal decisions have always been part of my methodology — whether I was ahead or behind for the day, week, or year. If I can eat healthily at comped restaurants, I do. If I can find nothing suitable to eat (which is true at some places), I’ll use real cash money to eat elsewhere.
I studied the mailers at the casinos I frequent so I could be at the place with the highest return. Every casino has at least something going on every day, but some days of the week or month are juicier than the others. Usually, the rules weren’t in the mailers, so I needed to make educated guesses some of the time. Sometimes I guessed wrong. Sometimes what was offered by the mailers wasn’t exactly how things turned out. Usually, I didn’t complain about this. After all, I’m a long-term winner at many of these places and complaining when everything doesn’t go my way is probably not the best way to keep my welcome.
The actual score of -$150,000 was just where it happened to be when the end of the year came along. It implies an average monthly loss of $12,500, but my monthly scores were never near that. I had winning months and a gruesome weekend where I lost $45,000. My low-point was at -$180,000 but I hit a $40,000 royal flush in late December to pull me back to “only” -$150,000.
At the start of 2025, I was optimistic about having a good year. A “one in a row” bad year doesn’t mean the next year will be bad as well. Fortunately, on January 2, 2025, I connected on a $20,000 royal flush along with three additional jackpots of $5,000 each, and this has been a good year so far through the first six-and-a-half months.
I understand most of my readers have smaller gambling bankrolls than I do, and the ability to sustain a $150,000 annual loss and basically shrug it off is something that is never going to happen to them. Still, all of us go through swings. If I’m going to write honestly about my gambling career, which I believe is what most of my readers want me to do, I’m going to have to use real numbers.
My decision to use the buffet coupon and eat breakfast for the price of a modest tip was not a one-off event for me by any means. My annual score, whether this year, last year, or any other year, had nothing to do with that decision. Buffets are excellent places to eat healthily if you’re good at resisting the unhealthy-yet-very-attractive temptations. Usually, I’m good at that. Not always. I’m always looking for a bargain, although I don’t look as hard for bargains as I did when I had less of a bankroll. If Mike wants to consider that irony, so be it.
The winning process, whether in gambling or in any other endeavor, is in major part a mindset. My mindset is to almost always be looking for ways to succeed. If I shut off such a mindset after having a bad experience, I might never get back on the right track again.
as to the new tax law wonder how much it will hurt the states as they tax casinos also how bad it will hurt the casinos and wonder if any will go bankrupt this does not include gamblers who will lose out .
i enjoy your articles keep up the good work and hope your health is holding up
Eh, I would have simply said to Mike…..”you do you, I do me. I don’t owe you an explanation on how I spend my money on anything.”
Done. 🙂
For sure, but that doesn’t generate another article, as it did in this case 😀
lol, content does rule, doesn’t it? 🙂
including responses to content, which we seem to be providing. Go us!
You’ve got a narrow mind and a head like a brick—you don’t even understand why gambling is a business…Honestly, I’d stop talking before digging the hole any deeper—this is just embarrassing. 😂
lol, says the guy judging someone else in how they should tip and spend their money talking about “business” to others.
I judged your narrow mind too, but like a goldfish circling the bowl, you seem to have already forgotten.
People love spending money that isn’t their’s, especially on the Internet.
Stupid people won’t understand it.
Though most of us aren’t in your gambling bracket $wise, YOUR THEORIES CAN HELP ALL OF US IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN!!!!!
The mindset is what’s so important.
I enjoy playing, I’d like to make a little money, but thank the lord I’m not trying to make a living doing it. If I can get a free meal that I’ll enjoy, all the better. That’s $25-50 that’s still in my pocket. If I can get some other comps from my hosts, again, all the better.
I just came back from a Vegas trip where I took 2 younger guys with me, both novices. Of course, they were looking for the big score playing craps and BJ. And, as usual, they lost for the first 2 days. They had to slow down so we had 4 of us in a row playing NSUD. And, of course, we had some beginners luck and hit deuces on a redeal and a Royal within 3 hours. They went home with a few dollars in their pocket and I think they finally understood what the old guy had been trying to get thru to them.
Was so fun watching their eyes light up! Part beer and part gambling fun!
Keep up the good work!
ND
Your mindset seems to be similar to degenerate gamblers…
I enjoy the different perspectives in the comments to Bob’s columns…..again, I’m trying to learn something that can help me be a positive player.
But…Mike….for John and I….WTF are you talking about?
I am talking about your degenerate gambling behavior. WTF.. you can’t read?
Trying to learn something is being a degenerate?
Really?
Bob, your $150,000 annual loss can’t be carried over, you are already double taxed, if you can have a winning year this year, suppose your profit is less than $150K, you still need to pay lots of taxes…
You thought you were playing with an edge—but based on the results, that edge is statistically negative. You’re essentially paying for the illusion of an advantage, regardless of the new tax law.
Wow I don’t follow the comment sections a whole lot but I’ve also never seen a true troll here like Mike..
John, you just left a most worthless comment ever…
He cannot carry his loss over, true. But he can also write off all of his other “business”, as I am sure he lists his occupation is gambling. He can write off his travel, food, hotel stays (the ones he pays for), gas, vehicle depreciation, etc. I am sure Bob has a great accountant. I always learn something from each of his posts. I wish I had the memory and math skills he has. Turning 72 in a few days.
Another note, the new BBB from Trump supposedly has raised the reporting threshold to $2000. Some are reporting that it is for slots (and VP). Slots were exempted from the increase, if you read the new law. The IRS can make that change without a new law, but hope that the Fair Act legislation will fix it then too. Even so, $2000 is not that much better. Still have to get a W2G for a Royal on .50 cent poker.
Lucky
Probably going to be lots of rumors flying around….but….
This is the latest I’ve seen about the BBB and slots……
Increased Reporting Threshold for Slots: The OBBBA raises the IRS reporting threshold for slot machine winnings from $1,200 to $2,000. This means that casinos and other gambling establishments will only be required to issue a Form W-2G to a player if they win $2,000 or more on a slot machine jackpot, starting in 2026.
Do you have another site that says differently? Please post.
ND
There is a thing called google, you silly goose…
As of 7-19, there are many silly goose google articles that have reported the slot 1099 has increased to 2k. Others are reporting this is not the case.
We will see.
Who told you that?
The issuance of a W-2G is governed by §3402(q) of the Tax Code — and that was not changed in the OBBBA. Thus, beginning in 2026, a W-2G must still be issued at $1,200 for a slot win.
$2,000 is the new filing threshold of your total wins.
A couple of quick tangential observations —
I find it really odd and somehow weirdly parallel that my sports gambling winning years versus losing years has a really similar overall tally as Dancer’s gambling wins/losses. I could have written those lines. I suspect I have more years that would have been “near-washes” one side or the other, but the overall numbers are startlingly similar.
I’m frugal via personal history more than anything else. My family didn’t dip its toes into the middle class until I was 11 or 12, so I remember cold rooms in winter and delivering milk at 6 AM for a penny a bottle. But unlike Mr. Dancer, I have loosened up as the reaper has approached. I’m still frugal as a church mouse, but it’s not an obsessive/compulsive requirement. I try to place things in context. About 90% of my gambling outlay is during college football season; it is a little strange each year when I transition from gambling my brains out to minimal gambling. I came to realize that being mega-tight all the time didn’t make a helluva lot of difference or sense. Not really worth the attention in my late 60’s.
We Germans are known for our cultural frugality, so maybe being Dancer-esque has been a familial default for me.
Robert, you forgot one thing – Bob wasn’t born in a frugal family. Bob’s father was a multi-millionaire. However, the pathetic dude did a most stupid thing in his family history. He lost $60M in 2007. This is why Bob is very frugal. He is OK with his father losing $60M while still trying to spend all coupons for free food. 😂 This is hard to rationalize.
Here is the quote from this blog post “Can You Do Everything Correctly in Video Poker and Still Go Broke?” – https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/gambling-with-an-edge/can-everything-correctly-video-poker-still-go-broke/
“My father, born in 1915, was 92 years old when the 2007 stock market crash happened. He had about $60 million invested in the market in 2007 — a considerable lifetime achievement — much of it on margin — because he was obsessed with making $100 million before he died. Everyone told him that what he was doing wasn’t prudent at all — but he wouldn’t listen. He felt that he had built up all that money, we hadn’t, and that proved he was smarter than us. He ended up losing everything — and the shock of going from a multi-millionaire to penniless and depending on his children for support was devasting. He ended up losing his mind and dying a few years later.”
I don’t normally stick up for Bob but I think he was frugal WAY before 2007. Him and Jean Scott were doing a lot of same stuff. That is about when I started as well…….early 2000’s so I was around.
Dancer, face it, you’re cheap. You can call it frugal but it still adds up to cheap.
Wow. That is one brutal story. That might make me paranoid about going broke — tough history to shake. You could wind up on hyper-alert, always sensitive to the minor financial peccadillos everyone has.
The strange thing about growing up working class in the coal region was that working class people always over-tipped. It was a real sub-cultural habit that we displayed even when we were 15 or 16 years old.
Great article, keep it up!
Enjoy all your posts, as you know we live in a jealous world!
Its’s your money, you get to decide how to spend it.
Have a wonderful year!
Right on, Tim!