It’s different in the US; all of that stuff is taxable.
Here there is a cutoff below which it doesn’t have to be reported by the casino or game show, but game show prizes are often above that. If you win a big slot machine jackpot the management will be there with the tax form. Theoretically you must report winnings (and can deduct losses) but I doubt many people do, even if they come out slightly ahead by some miracle.
Last spring, I won a pair of tickets to Trans-Siberian Orchestra from a radio station. When I went to pick them up, I had to fill out an IRS W-9 form, which the station sent to the government reporting that I’d “earned” $100 in tickets. Next tax season, I have to report that $100 on my gross income calculations. :(
I won almost 6k worth of prizes on a game show back in '97 and was not given any option to take cash. I inquired about it, too.
I ended up paying taxes on a couple of things I didn’t need (like a washer & dryer set) and taking a trip to somewhere I had already been and didn’t care to visit again.
I would have loved a cash option even if it was less than the value of the physical prizes.
Not TPIR, but a friend of mine won a trip to Europe from a radio station a while back. The way it worked was they put him in touch with a travel agent and gave him a certain budget to work with. He couldn’t take the cash, but if for some reason he didn’t want to go to Europe he had the option of using the allotted money to travel elsewhere. I wonder if it works the same on TPIR.
Also, for a show that is taped in California, the state definitely wants their cut. Yep, you have to pay California state taxes on your winnings as well. Given the state of California’s budget you think they aren’t going to squeeze every penny out of you they can?
As others have said, under U.S. tax law, all winnings count as earnings, especially the kind of large sums that are possible on game shows and lotteries.
However, I would have thought that the game producers would make it easy for you and take into account tax obligations and work them out before handing over the prize, thus not requiring you to actually pay out of pocket for winning something you might not actually want or need.
I’m pretty sure that the production company didn’t pay anywhere near list for the hotel and meals I won. Promotional consideration, remember. I didn’t have any trouble scheduling my stay, but I don’t think I could have done it at really busy times. The nationwide promotion the resort got was well worth $700 in meals and a hotel room that might have been vacant if we hadn’t stayed.
BTW, we pretty much worked our way through the menu by the end of the week. The last day they made an off-the-menu special dish for us. Luckily, the food was good.
About 4 years ago I “won” 6 tickets to the movies on a radio call in contest. When I went to the station to pick them up they said I had to give them $1. I never did get a satisfactory explanation as to why.
Yup, same thing happened to me, same city. Maybe even the same station. I just assumed it was a way to get around some tax implication for the station or something.
Or, maybe if you pay the buck for the tickets it doesn’t count as an true give-away and you are able to try to win again on the next call-in contest. As some stations only let you win once every thirty days (but pay that $1 and it isn’t considered a win).
Not sure.
That sounds like a pretty good theory to me.
The station BTW was WOKY when they played oldies (So I’m a square. Sue me:D) I wasn’t happy when I heard they were changing formats, but when it turned out to be classic country I was thrilled.
About those “a year’s supply of”: I worked as a supermarket checker for a while back in Pennsylvania, and one of our regular customers had won a year’s supply of breakfast cereal from one of the big companies (honestly can’t remember if it was Kellogg’s or Post or what) in a contest. What that amounted to was coupons. She got a pack of coupons, one for each week of the year, good for a family-sized box of any cereal from that company - which was their definition of a year’s supply. I’m guessing that with less perishable items, like the infamous Bon Ami cleanser from the video linked to above, they might just send the winner a case. But imagine all the Rice-a-Roni coupons printed up for Jeopardy over the years :eek: