Question of the Day - 17 January 2026

The IRS reporting threshold for slot machine winnings, part of the broader tax legislation, marks the first adjustment since 1977 and will be indexed for inflation starting in 2027.

It's true that in the past, manufacturers and casinos capped certain progressive or fixed jackpots just below $1,200 (e.g., $1,195 or $1,199) to avoid triggering hand pays and tax forms. It's possible that manufacturers might design or update games with max jackpots capped at less than $2,000 to keep wins ticket-printable (or credited directly) rather than requiring attendant intervention. We've seen speculation in casino forums about this — "quick-hit"-style machines with a $1,999 top prize to attract more play without the hassle.

However, we don't expect this to be universal, dramatic, or even noticeable in most places. As we saw in our recent answer about the coin-in ratio of slots to video poker, VP is such a minor part of most casino floors anymore that we doubt too many manufacturers/casinos will bother making costly alterations for an $800 change in the reporting requirements. The casino industry was lobbying for a much larger increase to the threshold, upwards of $5,000. That might've engendered more changes, but $2,000 is unlikely to.  

We believe that the bigger impacts will be operational and experiential rather than machine design: reducing interruptions for players and staffing needs for casinos and less downtime for machines from lockups, especially on higher-denom games where $1,200+ hits were common, among other incremental changes.