The American Gaming Association (AGA) has stated its support for bipartisan legislation to raise the antiquated slot tax threshold for which individuals are required to report slot jackpot wins to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The current slot tax threshold of $1,200 hasn’t undergone any change for inflation since 1977, resulting in a significant increase in slot jackpots casinos and customers reporting to the IRS.
Introduced by Congressional Gaming Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), the new bipartisan legislation will raise the antiquated slot tax threshold to $5,000, and provide a mechanism for future increases based on inflation.
AGA President and CEO Bill Miller has shown the association’s support for the new legislation, commenting: “Increasing the slot tax threshold to account for inflation is a long overdue change that will alleviate unnecessary administrative burdens on casino operators, their customers and an understaffed and overwhelmed IRS.”
Federal regulation states that when a casino customer wins a slot machine jackpot of $1,200 or more, the machine is temporarily taken out of service while the patron is required to complete a W-2G tax reporting form.
While slot jackpots have steadily risen with inflation over the past several decades, the $1,200 threshold hasn’t changed since its 1977 inception, and it is equivalent to more than $5,000 today when adjusted for inflation.
Since the threshold hasn’t tracked with inflation, there has been a significant increase in reportable jackpots, causing more operational inefficiencies for casino operators.
The new legislation, cosponsored by Reps. Mark Amodei (R-NV), Anthony Brown (D-MD) and Steven Horsford (D-NV), add to the efforts by the AGA and Congressional Gaming Caucus that led to Congress prompting the US Department of the Treasury to look into updating the slot tax threshold through regulation.
The treasury has not yet submitted that report to Congress.
Miller continued: “Today’s legislation provides Congress a direct path to modernize the slot reporting threshold. We look forward to continuing to work with these bipartisan leaders on Capitol Hill to address outdated regulations that impact our industry.”
