IRS Abandons Ridiculous Gambling Tax Hike

American Gaming Association (AGA) President and CEO Geoff Freeman released the following statement after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today released its final regulation on its 2015 proposal for tax reporting of slot winnings.

“Today’s final IRS regulation is a big win not only for gaming companies and millions of casino visitors, but also for state and local governments who would have received fewer gaming tax dollars as a result of what would have been burdensome federal requirements,” said Freeman. “Our grassroots campaign mobilized thousands of casino customers, members of Congress from 11 states urged restraint and compelling research demonstrated that the tax threshold should be at least $4700 when adjusted for inflation. We look forward to continuing to work with the IRS and our federal partners to modernize regulations and protect millions of casino customers around the country.”

The final IRS regulations: Drops its electronic player tracking proposal altogether (AGA opposed); Drops its conceptual idea of lowering slot win reporting thresholds (AGA opposed); and on the optional aggregation method, payee ID, and other provisions, the final regulation appears to incorporate many of AGA’s technical suggestions, such as use of gaming day for optional aggregation.

More at AGA