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If you had a successful night at the slots or poker tables, you're going to have to share some of the lucky proceeds with Uncle Sam. The Internal Revenue Service generally requires that you report your gambling winnings and losses separately when you file your taxes rather than combining the two amounts.
Get your taxes done: Can I use a casino win/loss statement,to show my l. Turn on suggestions. You should show your gambling winnings as income and then your gambling losses as an itemized deduction, if you qualify.
Record Keeping
As you gamble during the year, you need to keep records of your winnings and losses so that you can support whatever figures you report on your taxes. The IRS permits you to use per-session recording, which means that instead of recording whether you won or lost each time you pull the slot machine, you can simply record your total for the session. Your records should include the date and type of gambling, where you gambled and if you gambled with anyone else, such as a home poker game. If you win more than $600, you should receive a Form W-2G from the casino.
Taxable Winnings
When figuring your gambling winnings, only include the winnings from each session rather than using losses to offset your gains. You have to include gambling winnings even if you didn't receive a Form W-2G from the casino. For example, if you gambled six times during the year, winning $100, $3,000, $4,000 and $6,000 but losing $5,000 and $2,000, your gambling winnings for the year are $13,100. This amount gets reported on line 21 of your Form 1040 tax return.
Gambling Losses
To claim your gambling losses, you have to itemize your deductions. Gambling losses are a miscellaneous deduction, but -- unlike some other miscellaneous deductions -- you can deduct the entire loss. The deduction goes on line 28 of Schedule A and you have to note that the deduction is for gambling losses. For example, if you lost $5,000 on one occasion and $7,000 on another, your total deduction is $12,000.
Gambling Loss Limitation
You can't deduct more in gambling losses than you have in gambling winnings for the year. For example, suppose you reported $13,000 in gambling winnings on Line 21 of Form 1040. Even if you lost $100,000 that year, your gambling loss deduction is limited to $13,000. Worse, you aren't allowed to carry forward the excess, so if you had $87,000 in losses you couldn't deduct last year, you can't use that to offset the gambling income from the current year.
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About the Author
Based in the Kansas City area, Mike specializes in personal finance and business topics. He has been writing since 2009 and has been published by 'Quicken,' 'TurboTax,' and 'The Motley Fool.'
Although religious and moral objections have opposed gambling for centuries, there are real social and personal benefits from gamblling.
How often do you see “experts” mention the benefits of gambling on the news or in business conference settings? For that matter, how often do the universities teach students about how great gambling is? And what about the churches?
Although more than 1 billion people gamble each year (about 1/7 of the world’s population), many religious people argue that gambling is sinful. While various religious traditions differ on why they oppose gambling, among Christians the gambling stereotype has long been used to depict a major sin. Oddly enough, the Bible has nothing to say about gambling, although many people mistakenly believe that gambling is a sin.
Some Christian writers reinterpret the many of passages to support their arguments against gambling. The Bible’s warnings against “loving money” more than “loving god” have nothing to do with gambling; a businessman who never gambles can love money. A poor person with no income can love money. Sadly many generations of devout people have been misled into thinking that gambling itself is a sin.
On the other hand gambling has been the ruin of many a man — there is no doubt about that. Science has shown that gambling addiction is real and it causes severe changes to brain function and chemistry. People who cannot stop gambling truly cannot – and they need to seek help for their gambling addiction.
And perhaps because of these many concerns, many people do ask what are the benefits of gambling. Below you’ll find some of the good benefits of gambling. The list is not exhaustive. Nor is it intended to be a full-throttle rebuttal against anti-gambling arguments. People should be aware that despite its darker side gambling does provide real value to society in many ways.
Also, if you are interested in learning more about online gambling, you will find some great articles at About Slots.
Here are 7 benefits of gambling anyone should appreciate:
- Local Economies Benefit from Gambling Business
- People Use Gambling for Fun and Entertainment
- Modern Casinos Offer Safe Environments for Gambling
- Some People Do Win Money from Gambling
- Government Tax Revenues Rely on Gambling
- New Income Opportunities Arise in the Gambling Industry
- Gaming and Play Include Gambling
1. Local Economies Benefit from Gambling Business
The more people who gather in an area the more economic activity they create. People exchange goods and services, or they exchange money for goods and services. Local populations gain jobs, new customers, and sell more goods and services when a casino opens in their community. And these people spend the money they earn in their own local economies.
Newly built casinos create many opportunities for their local workers and business businesses. And because they attract large numbers of travelers casinos help local hotels and other tourist attractions. Much of the money these people lose at the casinos is spent on those employees and local services.
2. People Use Gambling for Fun and Entertainment
Yes, you will probably lose money when you gamble but if you have fun doing so, what is the difference between losing $200 at a casino and spending $200 on expensive tickets for a show or sporting event? You still had fun. You still went home safe and satisfied.
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If you can live without the gambling but enjoy it — you’re probably okay. If you only gamble with money you can afford to lose, and not with money you need for bills and to live on — you’re probably okay. Gambling is a great group activity for friends and family, and many groups do organize special gambling trips to casinos that are maybe a few hours’ drive away.
3. Modern Casinos Offer Safe Environments for Gambling
Sure, there are seedy backroom gambling parlors where people you would not want to cross come to gamble, but that stereotype has been put down in many places by large, professional casinos. The casinos hire security guards, monitor their parking lots, and take precautions against violent crime afflicting their patrons. Yes, crime still happens around casinos but it is rare and police are usually close by.
No place is truly safe but a large gambling pavilion like a casino or race track offers a safe environment in which to eat, enjoy live shows (or sometimes closed-circuit broadcasts), and generally to have an enjoyable experience. You may even win some money.
4. Some People Do Win Money from Gambling
Yes, there are always winners in gambling. I don’t mean “the house always wins”, although that is most often true. I mean that every day casinos and racing tracks pay out large sums to people who “beat the odds”. So you just may find yourself with an unexpected, delightful windfall.
Winning at gambling is not easy and it’s a hard lifestyle for those who practice it full-time. Gambling is a feast-or-famine proposition for many professionals, but some people believe they can beat the odds consistently by mastering the skills of poker and blackjack.
5. Government Tax Revenues Rely on Gambling
If you pay taxes on your gambling winnings then you are being a good citizen. But there is another form of gambling that contributes to government revenues: government-run lotteries. Lottery games like Powerball and Mega Millions, not to mention thousands of scratch off games, generate billions of dollars in revenues for states every year.
The lottery is a self-imposed tax. It doesn’t generate enough money to replace the income tax but it certainly makes a big difference in state budgets. Of course, the original justifications for running state-run lotteries included funding educational initiatives. But critics have warned that when economies turn bad governments turn to their lottery revenues to fund other needs.
While using lottery revenues for non-educational purpose may not be a bad thing, it is a political hot potato that must be handled carefully. Constituents want to know that their money is being handled responsibly by their government representatives.
6. New Income Opportunities Arise in the Gambling Industry
Taxes On Casino Winnings
Believe it or not, there are people who make money off of gambling without gambling. These are the gambling sites affiliates who review online gambling sites and brick-and-mortar casinos. The gambling affiliate industry lives in a shadowy corner of the law, somewhat overlooked by precise laws that stipulate who can earn money from gambling and who cannot. You’re allowed to take payment for advertising. It’s not your responsibility to make sure that players and gaming providers comply with the law.
The affiliate industry is much larger than gambling. Online affiliates sell everything from books to expensive cars. They offer furniture, vacation deals, discount coupons, and just about everything you can imagine.
7. Gaming and Play Include Gambling
Gambling is gaming. An Introduction to the Science of Games says that:
Game play is an important part of human behavior but it has taken on more importance than in the individual person’s development. For example, we use the Olympic Games to bring whole nations together in a celebration of fair and brotherly competition. Hundreds of millions of people follow the Olympic sports and other international gaming compatitions closely even though doing so does not enhance their survival or chances of surviving.
Human game play is thus special because it has gone beyond preparing us for life; we now use games to enhance our lives.
“We use games to enhance our lives” is a very apt statement indeed. I think I have shown that games — even gambling — does indeed enhance our lives in many ways.
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