{"id":119701,"date":"2019-05-28T09:46:13","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T16:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=119701"},"modified":"2019-05-28T09:46:13","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T16:46:13","slug":"i-cant-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/i-cant-help\/","title":{"rendered":"I Can\u2019t Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

I keep strange hours. Sometimes I\u2019m up all night. Sometimes I\u2019m up all day. Overall, I get my sleep, but nobody knows at any given time of day whether I\u2019ll be awake or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

At about 2 a.m. on a recent night, I was writing an article when I received a text message from a friend, George. The message showed two jackpots. One was for deuces with an ace kicker for $3,400 on a $1 13-4-3-3 Deuces Bonus game with two progressives, and the second was for the royal itself — $8,000. By looking at the numbers for the screen shots, they must have hit almost back to back.<\/span><\/p>\n

I responded with \u201cCongratulations,\u201d but didn\u2019t say more. This is not a friend who sends me pictures of every W2G he gets, and I don\u2019t want to turn him into one. <\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as I sent off the congrats, he texted \u201cCan we talk?\u201d I didn\u2019t know what it was about, but I called him right away.<\/span><\/p>\n

It turned out that he hit the aces jackpot and his sometimes-partner, Cliff, hit the royal. He said this time they were partners on all of the scores.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cliff, it turns out, is a Canadian citizen in the United States on a permanent work visa. He has a temporary driver\u2019s license, which gets renewed one year at a time, because he is not a United States citizen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The floor person noticed the temporary license and asked about it. When she found that Cliff was a Canadian citizen, she said the casino was required to withhold 30% of the W2G — $2,400. Cliff has previously earned hundreds of W2Gs and this is only the second time money has been withheld.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the money is withheld, it is sent to the appropriate taxation department in Canada. To retrieve any or all of it, Cliff would need to file a Canadian tax return. Right now, he only files United States returns.<\/span><\/p>\n

The slot supervisor showed up and told Cliff that the 30% would be withheld, period. It would be withheld temporarily if Cliff said he could bring in a United States passport or a non-temporary driver\u2019s license. If Cliff didn\u2019t think he could produce one of those in the very near future, the money would be sent to Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, George asked my advice as to what to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

I told him that my read was that the casino was acting appropriately. That\u2019s the law. The $2,400 they were withholding wasn\u2019t doing the casino any good because they had to forward it to Canada, but refusing to do it could get them into trouble if it was discovered. <\/span><\/p>\n

I suggested that Cliff\u2019s options were to become a United States citizen (which I understand is his intention, but it is sometimes a lengthy process), accept that losing 30% of jackpots occasionally was just an expense of doing business, or, perhaps, find another way to earn money.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had no advice about filing a Canadian tax return. I don\u2019t know the rules and can\u2019t speak to the advantages and disadvantages of going that route.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although I\u2019ve met Cliff and like him, George is my friend. I suggested that if George and Cliff are going to continue to be occasional progressive-chasing partners who share some or all of jackpots, then this potential of 30% being withheld should be explicitly discussed. Right now, George and Cliff are sharing that 30% \u201cpenalty.\u201d It probably hadn\u2019t been discussed because it hadn\u2019t happened recently, but now that it\u2019s out in the open, it needs to be discussed. <\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t particularly care how they resolve it. It could be that Cliff is the dominant partner and George is lucky to be allowed to tag along. In that case, sharing in the 30% is probably correct. If Cliff is the more knowledgeable partner, a different arrangement would be appropriate.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are privileges that are associated with being a U. S. citizen. This particular one has been agreed to by treaty and is not likely to be changed in the near future. The fact that this particular one affects some of my gambling friends is unfortunate, but that\u2019s the law and we all must live with it.<\/span><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I keep strange hours. Sometimes I\u2019m up all night. Sometimes I\u2019m up all day. Overall, I get my sleep, but nobody knows at any given time of day whether I\u2019ll be awake or not. 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