Page 27 - February 2010 • Southern California Gaming Guide

by Gail Anders
If you haven’t started your 2009 tax preparations, now is the time. I’m a casino player, and in 2009 I was lucky and won more than I lost—mostly in Southern California casinos. I’m a huge proponent of reminding gamblers how to keep as much of their winnings as possible each year.
ere are two key elements in preparing for your taxes if you are a casino player: keeping a logbook of your play throughout the year, and getting win/loss statements from casinos.
Keep a Casino Logbook
As I play and win each year, I keep w-2gs from all casinos in one place, and I keep a log of my wins and losses. I’ve been doing this now for years—probably the best thing I’ve done to help me keep more of winnings. For the third year in a row, I won more than I lost. Because I had gambling losses to deduct from my winnings, I will not have to pay as much in income taxes.
Yes, Uncle Sam demands a share of our luck at the casino. And from past experience, I found that if I didn’t keep a record or a log of my casino play, I wouldn’t know what I’d won over the course of a year, or more importantly, what I’d lost. Gambling losses are a key element in determining income taxes on winnings, not to mention how I may view or adjust my future play at the casino.
Save All Your W-2Gs
As most gamblers know, the Internal Revenue Service (irs) requires casinos to report on a w2-g form all players’ jackpots of $1,200 or more on slot machines or other casino games. e w2-g form lists your name, address and Social Security Number (ssn) plus other pertinent information to you win. When you win a jackpot of $1,200 or over, casinos require proper identi cation and ssn before they pay. So always be certain to carry a valid form of identi cation when visiting a casino. Some casinos even have jackpot winners sign forms attesting that the ssn they give to the casino is valid and is, indeed, their ssn.
Casinos are required to send a copy of all w2-gs to the irs, and to give or send players a copy the w2-g with their winnings clearly stated. e w2-g form indicates the name of the casino or gambling venue, the amount won, and any identifying numbers of the gambling device the player used to win. e w2-g must be signed by the winner as proof that the correct ssn was submitted to the casino or gambling venue.
Gambling Winnings Are Taxable Income
Players are required to list all gambling and jackpot winnings when ling income taxes. Gambling winnings are taxable income. e irs allows deductions of gambling losses up to the amount of your winnings. And, you can only do this if you have documentation of your losses. Keeping a logbook, therefore, is the best way to do this.
Setting Up Your Logbook
To keep an accurate logbook, be certain you include the following:
February 2010
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Page 27
♦ ♦ ♦
♦ ♦
e casino name and address of where you played. e date and time of when you played.
e type of game you wagered on—(slots, blackjack, poker, etc.).
e amount(s) you won and/or lost for each session or game.
Proof of your winnings or losses—(w2-gs, atm receipts, cancelled checks, bank withdrawals, credit card receipts).
If you are ever audited by the irs, and you have a logbook of your winnings and losses, you will have at least the basic records to show where, when and how much you gambled. You also must keep any atm receipts, cancelled checks or bank statements showing casino transactions to back up your logbook. e idea is that your logbook has to be as accurate as possible. I’ll leave the professional tax audit advice to a cpa, but at least with a log, you’ll have a good start in showing your gambling records.
I keep my logbook on my computer, in the spreadsheet program, Microsoft Excel, but you can also keep it simply in a notebook by hand. I like to keep mine in Excel because Excel can automatically total my winnings and losses as I make additions to the log. I set it up with eight column headers: Date Played, Time, Casino, Casino
Address, Game Played, Winnings, Losses, Proof.
Win/Loss Statements
Coupled with your yearly logbook, casino win/loss statements are essential tools for tax prep. A casino win/loss statement may be one of the most important communications you have with the casinos you frequent. win/loss statements are estimates of what an individual casino customer has lost or won during a calendar year based on player tracking information. ey are designed to assist casino players with their annual tax lings, and must be requested by the player from the casino.
Some players use win/loss statements to take the place of detailed gambling session records—logbooks—which
casino players are supposed to keep according to the irs and hardly anyone does, unless they have been audited and then they know better.
Casinos do not guarantee the accuracy of win/loss statements, as they are predicated on players club card tracking. After all, the casino does not know if you play, on occasion, without your card. But the information is very helpful to casino players who need evidence of losses to o set documented winnings that were reported to the irs, mostly for recorded slot jackpots over $1,200 during the year. Casinos have di erent ways to request a win/loss statement. Some are really simple, others more complicated.
Contact Your Players Club Host
If you play consistently at the same casino or casinos, you no doubt have a relationship with the casino’s players club. If that’s the case, call your casino host or players club and request your annual win/loss statement. ey are kept con dential, as all casinos know the importance of protecting their players’ privacy. You may have to request the statement via a signed form plus id in person. You can even request your statement online from some casinos!
Most casinos will tell you that player tracking information was not intended for tax reporting and that the irs recommends a daily diary of gaming activity with suggested pertinent information.
So, get ready for 2009 tax time! Use these invaluable tools—your casino logbook and win/loss statement— and make sure you keep as much as you can of your jackpot winnings!
Gail Anders writes for travel magazines and lives in Laguna Beach and New York. She says she loves to play in Southern California casinos.