Question of the Day - 29 January 2026

This somewhat cryptic question is referring to the newly raised threshold for reporting slot jackpots -- as everyone knows by now -- from $1,200 to $2,000 and the changes necessary at the machines themselves. 

The reason they're not changed yet is ... it's complicated. And it might take months to implement. 

A recent story in the Review-Journal addressed this question.

Essentially, the process concerns modifying the guts of thousands of machines and maybe tens of thousands, given that there are almost 900,000 regulated slot machines in the U.S. In addition, literally dozens of game designers and manufacturers are involved, along with the strict regulatory practices and agendas of dozens of states and tribal jurisdictions. Meanwhile, you also have to into account all the casino operators, who all have their own procedures and internal controls. 

Put them all together and you have what they call in the motherland a bloody bollocks.

What's more, the IRS didn't release its draft instructions for W-2Gs, making official the raise in the threshold, until December 15. That left all of two weeks for this process, ostensibly, to be completed, though it barely got started in that time, what with the holidays and all. 

Getting into the nitty-gritty, the reprogramming of machines so that they lock up at $2,000, rather than $1,200, requires an update that can not only differ from supplier to supplier, but also within different families of machines under the aegis of the same supplier. 

When that's ready, each supplier has to schedule the changeover with each casino. The suppliers could have dozens of casinos to schedule, while the casinos want to limit downtime on the slot floor by fanning out the work. 

Now the regulators get into the act. Each jurisdiction has its own rules and procedures for updating software and making other changes to slot machines. In some, slot techs might have to open every single machine on a casino floor, as opposed to others, where wholesale changes might be made at the server level. And if the changes are extensive, depending on the age of the machine and the tech stack that operates it, it might put the machine into a whole separate category of new game; in that worst-case scenario, an independent testing lab would have to employed before regulators would authorize it. 

And another thing. This is the first time such a challenge has been undertaken, considering the threshold hasn't been changed for 49 years. Presumably, when the threshold is changed again, either updated for inflation or increased to where it should be in the 21st century, the process will go more smoothly and quickly.

Finally, this isn't the only challenge casinos, suppliers, and regulators are facing at the moment. It makes everyone's jobs that much harder while it's ongoing. 

We know all this is cold comfort while you're waiting for a handpay or for someone on the slot floor to unlock a machine that froze at the $1,200 mark, but that's the way it is.