Jean Scott's Frugal Vegas

The 4^th Edition of Tax Help for Gamblers is finally available – to order here on the LVA website or pick up at the Huntington Press office. And that pre-pub frugal discount is still available through March 15 – a real bargain at $15 that includes free shipping.

But I am still receiving questions that I want to address:

“If I have an earlier edition, do I really need this new edition?” 

Perhaps some do not, if their tax situation is rather simple and/or their gambling figures are quite small.  However, this book has more updates than any previous one.  Part of the reason – a big part really – is the major changes brought about by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Congress at the end of 2017, one that majorly affected the 2018 federal tax returns. Another factor is the growing number of states which for the last few years have been changing how they treat gambling figures, both for their residents and out-of-state players. The chapter on “How All 50 States Handle Gambling Wins/Losses” could cause you major financial mistakes if you depended on information found in any previous editions.

We have expanded our discussion about sports betting that will help new gamblers deal with tax issues.  We cover in more detail fantasy sports play, describe the new – and surprisingly positive – changes for dog and horse race betters, and added a new section on cryptocurrency.  We warn about a benefit loss for professional gamblers, but reveal a new benefit for them that could be a major money-saver. And we discuss at length the change that is hitting hard many recreational players and the various ways they are dealing with it.

And what might be most valuable in this new edition are the 2018 sample forms in the back of the book, which are quite different from those of previous years.  They also include notes pointing out the new places where you would put various gambling figures.

“Will this book tell me whether, because of all the new changes, I should switch from filing as a recreational gambler to a professional one?”

This book rarely uses the word “should” because the IRS written guidance for gamblers speaks in very general terms and is often vague, even contradictory, and thus open to individual interpretation.  You will probably get tired of us repeating often throughout the book, after giving a range of possible actions, that what you “should” do depends on your individual “facts and circumstances.”  This is why I cannot answer your personal tax questions and I will suggest, as we do often in this book, that you consult your accountant or professional tax preparer, who will look at the big picture of your “facts and circumstances.”  This is why I shudder when people pose tax questions on an Internet forum and someone gives their “opinion” and/or relates their own personal experiences with that matter.  They may be sincere and trying to be helpful, but so often the information can mislead others.

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This book is also available for all major eBook reader formats, including Amazon Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.  One warning: Be sure if you order the paperback or the eBook online, you check that it is the Fourth Edition. Some previous editions are still being offered, but not worth even a heavily discounted price!

I knew when I wrote my last blog that there might be questions and requests for more details.  Actually, looking over it later, I was surprised it made sense at all.  I wrote it in the middle of the worst flu attack I had ever suffered – an unusually potent flu strain that they say this year’s flu shot didn’t cover well.   Now a week later, the main symptoms have died down, but I still feel like I was run over by a truck.  However, I know it takes a long time to regain one’s strength, but I want to try to cover some of your comments and questions while I am recuperating.

First, I must emphasize that Brad and I  do not keep elaborate spreadsheet gambling records.  When I first got a computer, I tried one year to keep digital records.  I would jot down all pertinent information in a small notebook at the end of each session before we left the casino.  And then when I got home, I would transfer the information to a simple spreadsheet.  However, I never really learned to use Excel so I found this was too time-consuming.  And besides I liked my Old School hard-copy records.  I guess if I had known we were going to be doing this for the next 35 years, I would have taken some Excel lessons.  But instead we have a 35-year hodge-podge of stacked paperwork that would make no sense to anyone else but me!

So, although my paperwork is full of individual details of our session plays, there is no cumulative figuring of play EVs or analysis of where we had won – or lost – more.  As I have written many times, I am not a math person.  A pretty spreadsheet or deep-dive math analysis brings me no particular pleasure.  I am more a big-picture person.  I do the needed math when we are choosing a play, taking the EV of the game and adding players club and promotional benefits.  Comparing the total EV of all possible plays, we decide on the one that will fit our schedule and be the highest positive-expectation choice.  That has been the basic way we have chosen VP plays for the last 30 years.  We don’t know where we have been luckier or where we have had bigger losses.  These facts aren’t important to us. We don’t have to achieve the expected EV in each casino.  It’s all in choosing the best EV in the first place that is the reason for our good total bottom line down through the years.

Of course, this choice of plays has changed over the years.  Used to be the game itself had a positive expectation and all those “extras” I called the “gravy.”  That has slowly changed with the downgrading of good paytables and now we have to really scramble for more “extras” just to push a play into positive territory.

Some of you asked how we handle certain items on our taxes.  The figures I gave in the last blog are just part of raw data and wouldn’t necessarily appear exactly like that on our tax return.  But I will say that when I write about us “winning” or “losing,” I am talking about actual financial results at the end of the year.  Our profit or loss is the actual cash results of our play.  This can include players club money benefits, tournament prizes,  promotional wins, and what we call cash-equivalent benefits, such as gift cards.  We have never counted comps as “wins” although in the last couple of years we occasionally have taken them into consideration when choosing a marginal play.

I can’t give you specific advice on how you should handle gambling-connected items on your return.  But I can suggest a resource that can help you and your tax preparer in making some of these gray-area decisions, the book Tax Help for Gamblers.  And I am happy to tell you that the 4^th edition of this book has been completely updated and expanded to cover all the new tax laws that impact your 2018 return.  Those new tax laws have made things very difficult for many gamblers, and I was glad to find a new expert, Russell Fox, who would help add the technical information that needed to be discussed.

I wanted this book to be out earlier, but the government was very slow in rolling out information and forms.  But we finally got all the 2018 forms to add to the book and it is now at the printers and will hopefully be back by the end of February or early March, with plenty of time for you to make the April 15^th deadline. (There will be an eBook version too but it will not come out until later.)

And talk about a frugal sale – Huntington Press is offering the book (retail at $24.95) at a pre-pub price of $15 through March 15 and that includes shipping to US addresses only.  Order this new 4^th edition here.