Nope, you’re not understanding this. When they hold the taxes out, they send that amount to the IRS in your name, using your social security number. You will be given or sent a form 1099G, telling the amount you won, and also the amount, if any, that was sent to the IRS. There will be a paper trail to gambling winnings over a certain amount.
So, you are uninformed about gambling to the extent that you don’t know the tax procedures, yet you expect to go to Vegas and beat the professionals at their own game?
Listen well, Grasshopper: Be sure to purchase a round-trip ticket in advance and store some munchies in your hotel room, so that after all your money is lost, you’ll be able to get back home and not starve before you get there.
FWIW, if a person wins over $600 at a racetrack, they take your identification and social security number before they give you your money. You will get a form 1099G in the mail, and of course the IRS also gets a copy, so they know how much you won.
Do with the expense portion of your tax return as you will, but if you get a 1099G you’d better report the winnings under income.
At many race tracks you can find sketchy people who will cash your large winning tickets for you in exchange for a cut of the winnings. They get the 1099G in their name (or fake name) and you get tax free cash, probably less than if you cashed it yourself.
This is, of course, illegal. It’s also a stupid thing to do because the guy might evade you after cashing the ticket and you’ll get nothing.
I wonder how that works for a poker room…a casino is obvious…someone hits a jackpot on a slot machine, everyone knows.
Poker room–I go to cage, buy $250 in chips…win 200 more…go back to cage 4 hours later, different worker…how do they know how much I bought in for? Maybe the loophole is in poker, you are taking money from the other customers, and therefore the casino/poker room is not obligated to report your earnings…however, you still are?
C’mon, dude, that has already been addressed. You don’t get a 1099 when you cash in chips because they have no idea what your buy in was and how many times you may have asked for more chips. You do get a 1099 when you win a large enough prize in a tournament.
I recently won $2500 in a poker tournament in California. I was not given a tax form on the spot. I was paid in chips and cashed in at the cage. No one mentioned taxes to me. They have my information via the players card I was required to have. My questions are, how long will it take to receive a tax form by mail and what percentage of my money will be taken for taxes? Also, I’m pretty young and haven’t dealt with a lot of tax issues, so is there any way I can pay that tax now so that I don’t have to worry about holding on to it to pay later?
Some table games in Tunica have a large possible payout, and if someone hits it, they do take out taxes and prepare the 1099 when the jackpot is over the reporting threshold.
Three Card Poker with a Progressive Jackpot is one such game. Essentially, it’s normal three card poker, with an optional $1 side bet. If you make the side bet and hit a straight flush of A,K,Q of Spades, you win the big jackpot—there are LED displays at the table with a running tally of the jackpot amount.
Come to Montreal; no tax reports on your winnings (if any). Of course, you would still be legally obligated to report your winnings to the IRS. BTW, unless they changed the law, losses are deductible from winnings for US taxes only if you are a professional gambler. What I never understood about this was whether that was supposed to mean that if you played 100 hands and lost $10,000 on 90 of them and won $10,000 on the remaining 10 you were supposed to declare $10,000 in gambling winnings and get no deduction for the losses. Or was it per session, or what. It was an idiotic law in any case.
IIRC, Canada has a tax treaty with the USA. If you, Joe the Canuck, win big in a Vegas casino (or anywhere) they will grab Uncle Sam’s share same as with a US resident. Once you cross the border, prove you are not staying in the USA to live off those winnings, they will refund your money. There are forms to fill out to get the back. For the hard of thinking, along the highway to the border there are billboards from businesses that will happily fill in a few government forms on your behalf for a commission.
Once back in Canada - no tax on gambling winnings (but no deduction for expenses either).
In Vegas and the Native American casinos in Minnesota, you are taxed for jackpots over $1100. I’ve won as much as $30,000 playing blackjack and never had to pay taxes on that.
If you dont want a paper trail, dont play machines, or tournaments where they can track your winnings/losses.
Hi Steve, welcome to the Dope. Please be careful about reviving six-year-old threads, as zombie jokes may ensue to the detriment of your question.
As to your question. I am not a tax professional, so take my reply for what you’re paying for it. The US taxes all your income, whether or not you receive a 1099-G (IIRC, the tax form for gambling income) for your winnings. The casino might not even send you that form.
If you want to prepay your taxes, go through the IRS forms for estimated taxes and send it in. Whether you do this or not, keep good records for next year’s tax return: Gambling losses if properly documented might be deducted against gambling winnings. So the money you lose in other tournaments might reduce your taxable winning from this one.
And congratulations! I’ve done well exactly twice in poker in the last 10 years, neither of them in a tournament or a casino (let alone a casino-run tourney).
ETA @ Snake: Yes you do have to pay taxes on your blackjack winnings. The IRS hates us all.
Last year I played in a tourny and came in 14th out of a 325 player field and won $5600. I was paid in cash with no wtholding. I asked about it and the room boss daid that those things did not apply to an Tribal casino. At the end of the year I reported the winning against my losses and went on my way.
Yes, I stand corrected. I should have said that there is no evidence of my winnings, and its up to me to be an upstanding citizen and volunteer that info.