2024 Gambling Taxes Guide & Gambling Calculator

In most cases, all income must be reported to the IRS in the United States. That includes gambling winnings, whether won online or in person. We recommend that gamblers keep a careful log of how much they gamble away and how much they win to accurately report the figures come tax day. The last thing you want to do is gamble on whether or not the IRS will come after you.

Contents

• Gambling Tax Calculator
• Reporting Winnings & Losses
• Gambling Tax Documents
• State-By-State Gambling Taxes
• Tips on Gambling Taxes

Disclaimer: We are casino experts, not necessarily tax experts. While we’ve worked to compile the most comprehensive information we could in this guide, you should always conduct your own research or consult a tax professional to ensure you are fulfilling all tax obligations.

Gambling Tax Calculator

Use our tax calculator below to determine how much of your gambling winnings you’ll be able to keep based on your state, filing status, and income level. Provide your total income, including gambling winnings, on top of the gambling winnings on their own.

Gambling Winnings Vs. Losses

Reporting Gambling Winnings for Taxes

Gambling winnings are classified as income and, as such, must be reported. With larger wins, an online casino may automatically send you a W-2G tax form to report, but keep in mind that winnings must be reported even if they do not automatically generate a W-2G. If the winnings do trigger a form, the IRS will also receive a report from the casino, so you should never neglect to report. We’ll cover these W-2G trigger amounts below in the Federal Taxes & Forms section.

In most cases, gambling winnings are taxed federally at 24%. Slot machine wins are taken from the full amount, while other games, such as poker, allow you to deduct the tournament buy-in or initial wager.

Once you’ve reported gambling winnings for federal taxes, you also must consider reporting them for state taxes. Some states do not require you to report gambling winnings. These states include Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. If you live in a state that’s not listed here, there’s a good chance you must also report and pay state taxes on gambling winnings. This holds true even if you are a non-resident, although in that case, you may receive a tax credit on your home state taxes.

Lastly, note that reporting gambling winnings is not limited to cash wins. In most cases, you’ll also have to pay taxes on the value of non-cash wins, such as raffles and giveaways that offer physical prizes.

Reporting Gambling Losses for Taxes

Gambling losses can be reported and deducted so long as you don’t identify as a professional gambler. This is because professional gamblers can report their losses as business expenses. For a regular gambler to deduct losses, however, they must itemize deductions instead of taking the standard deduction, which does add a new level of complexity to filing taxes. For that reason, we don’t often recommend reporting gambling losses, as the standard deduction is often more than the itemized deduction if you’re not a professional gambler.

Furthermore, when you’re reporting gambling losses, they can not exceed your winnings. In other words, you can not simply report gambling losses if you don’t have any gambling winnings.

Federal Taxes

As mentioned above, although bigger wins may trigger automatic W2-G forms, all gambling winnings must be reported regardless, according to the IRS. Gambling winnings do not need to be reported right away, but they do need to be included on your tax return. Below, we’ve listed the minimum win amounts that generally trigger Form W-2Gs to be generated.

• Slots and Bingo: $1,200 or more
• Table Games: Generally do not generate a Form W-2G, but must still be reported
• Sports Betting: $600 or more
• Keno, Poker, Lotteries, Sweepstakes, and Betting Pools: $5,000 or more
• Other Forms of Gambling: $600 or more if a win is 300x the wager; the wager itself can be taken into account for these winnings

Gambling Tax Forms & Documents

W-2G Form

Now that we’ve covered when a W-2G form will be generated, let’s take a closer look at what that form actually is. If you’ve ever filled out a regular W-2 form for an employer, chances are you’ll be familiar with the format and information required on a W-2G form. Essentially, a W-2G form is the same form but specifically utilized to report gambling winnings and any federal income tax withheld on those winnings.

Form 1040

As mentioned earlier, all gambling winnings must be reported even if a Form W2-G isn’t automatically generated. This is where Form 1040 comes in, which is utilized to report additional income and adjustments to income. If you need a Form 1040 to report any gambling winnings, you can download it directly from the IRS website.

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