{"id":121394,"date":"2020-11-11T08:32:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T16:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=121394"},"modified":"2020-11-11T08:32:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T16:32:09","slug":"unexpected-events-in-team-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/unexpected-events-in-team-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Unexpected events in team play"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In any gambling partnership or team play, it is best to get\nas many of the conditions set as possible before the actual play starts. The\nmore you iron out ahead of time, the less possibility for disagreement. But,\nyou can\u2019t account for every possible outcome and sometimes, alliances are made\non short notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, I was in Las Vegas and happened to have a friend\u2019s\nslot club with me. Coincidentally, he called me on a different matter and I\nmentioned to him that I had his card and did he want me to pick up his free\nplay. He thought about it and decided to go ahead and have me pick it up. He\npicks up for me locally with a 25% cut for the nearby casinos and a 33 1\/3% for\na more distant casino. After he had started picking up for me, he said that he\nis using the actual amount of the free play as the number and not what comes\nout of the play. It\u2019s a small difference and I told him as long as he was\nconsistent, either method is fine. So, I said I would take 25% of his free play,\ntreating this casino as a nearby casino. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He thought he had $80 in free play. Turns out he had $350.\nAfter running it through (which turned into $350.75), I talked to him and he\nsaid he would like to get some play in and not just pick up the free play and\nrun. I agreed to run about $800 through the machines. Not a huge amount but\nshould look better than zero play. Now, we didn\u2019t agree on how to handle this\nadditional play. I figured that since I already took my cut, this was his money\nand he would assume all the losses and take all the wins. We didn\u2019t formally\nstate that in our conversation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was getting near the end of the $800 in play, I managed to get a dealt Royal Flush in diamonds on a $0.50 machine. I took his card out, handed the slot attendant my license and waited for them to process the handplay. A supervisor came by and asked if I had given the slot person my player\u2019s card. I didn\u2019t, just my license. I said something to the effect that \u201cthe slot attendant had all the information she needed\u201d. The supervisor left and again I waited. Now, I should have had state and local taxes withheld but I was a little excited initially. I didn\u2019t want to have them redo the W2G, so I didn\u2019t have anything withheld.\u00a0 I wanted to keep a lower profile. \u00a0I did give the slot attendant a $20 tip, another item that was not discussed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I called my friend rather late (about 1 AM his time) and\ntold him that I had hit a royal flush on $0.50 play, didn\u2019t have any taxes\nwithheld and incurred a $15 loss (besides the handplay) running his money\nthrough the machine.  I said I would\nwithhold an approximate amount for federal (25%) and the exact amount for state.\nHe seemed good with that. We both live in Michigan. I don\u2019t file as a\nprofessional so the Michigan 4.25% tax is non recoverable. I will most likely\nitemize this year ( although it will be very close) so at least some of the\nfederal tax I withheld will be recoverable. My friend files as a professional\nso it would have been better to put the W2 on his name, but that wasn\u2019t\npossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got back home, I met up with him and had all the\nfigures spelled out and gave him about $1400. He asked \u201cWell, what\u2019s your cut?\u201d\nI said I was just running your money through so I wasn\u2019t entitled to anything.\nHe looked a little puzzled and I said if you want to give me a few bucks, I\nwould accept it but you are under no expectation on my part to do so. He handed\nme $200 and said, \u201cIs that enough?\u201d. I said that was more than enough and if he\noffered more, I wouldn\u2019t have taken it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have known each other for 20 years and our casino play\ntogether is rare but always treated as business. So, if he didn\u2019t give me a\npenny, I would not have been offended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several things to consider in this situation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n