Question of the Day - 20 November 2024

What a nice freeroll for the casino! Lose and you lose, win and you lose.

With all the search engines out there, I'm always mystified why people don't know gambling wins reporting 101. Many mistakenly think any win under 1200 doesn't have to be reported. The only thing the 1200 does is shift who is responsible to report the win, nothing else. 1199 or below, the responsibility falls on the player. 1200 and up, the responsibility shifts to the casino to do the reporting. With tables, the amounts shift, but the irs law is still the same, who is required to report. Many also think, again incorrectly, if you win 5000 (for instance) and you lose the same amount, it's a wash so no reporting or taxes due. Those days went away a long time ago.  If you don't itemize, you can't claim ANY gambling losses. Again, it's the tax law. In some states, you can't claim a dime in losses, but you are still required to report all wins. There will be a lot of folks who will have rude surprises when they get their friendly notice from the irs for taxes due on unreported wins. 

Of course we all know that all income is reportable, but I'm guessing the IRS couldn't handle the hundreds of thousands of 'reports' of gambing income confessions, from the proverbial 'found nickel on the street' to higher PLUS what comes in from casino reporting systems, W2-Gs.  "Dear IRS, I never won a taxable jackpot, no W2-Gs to send in, but overall I came out ahead by $75.00." The same would have to be true for money given/received for Christmas and birthday gifts and everything else, office football game pools (somebody wins it...I never did).

They had to develop manageable system, which they did, unfortunately for us.

Candy  

Where did your comment come from? Did I miss something?

Lol, I'm wondering too!

Sad to think someone so addicted to gambling needs to be "self excluded". To me this doesn't prevent online gambling, playing with friends. Like an alcoholic, ban one from bars but one can easily still drink at home. Self control anyone? Personal responsibility?

It isn't about personal responsibility or self-control. Some folks aren't affected at all, couldn't care less about gambling or tobacco or alcohol. Who of us haven't wanted to keep playing longer than we know we should, spend more than we planned?  Why AA and GA came about. Look at tobacco. All the counseling about lung cancer and heart disease, people still smoke. Ruined lives, suicides related to addictions of all kinds, and now the kids with their gaming. 

Those who "self-exclude" know they are beyond their own ability to stop, and congrats to those who take that route to quit. Addiction is resistant to treatment and subject to relapse.  Takes a lot of help, a lot of tries and failures before success.  Not a moral problem but a brain problem.

Penalties for violating self exclusion vary by state.  When jackpots are forefeit, they often go to the state.  Some states use that money to fund gambling addiction programs.  Last month, Pennsylvania fined a casino $50,000 for allowing 7 people on the state exclusion list to gamble in the casino.  Some states also fine the gambler.

"It isn't about personal responsibility or self-control."

Well, yes it sure is. To think otherwise is not taking personal responsibly and playing a victim mentality. That ends badly for those who choose that game of denial. 

"Not a moral problem but a brain problem."

Of course it's a "brain problem". It's called self-control. Freewill. Choice. I love junk food but make the choice to eat it sparingly to remain skinny and healthy. If I didn't make that choice, I'd have no one to blame but myself. Those who choose to want to stop doing something they are doing that is dangerous, bad, etc. will stop. Those who choose to continue a damaging behavior no matter what it is will continue. 

Choice.