For the past 50 years, casinos across the United States have had to indulge in a costly ritual whenever a player hit a slot jackpot over $1200. That ritual involved shutting down the winning machine while casino staff filled out paperwork for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It’s a costly effort that, thanks to the recent passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), will be a thing of the past.
With the passing of the OBBB, the minimum jackpot requiring IRS notification has jumped to $2000. The new rule applies not only to slot machine winnings, but also to keno and horse racing wins. Players will feel the impact of the new rule starting December 31 or this year.
Moving forward, the minimum win requiring IRS notification will be tagged to inflation, so another measure like will theoretically be unnecessary.
It sounds like a minor change to the layman but industry insiders are hailing the move as a major step forward. American Gaming Association (AGA) SVP of Government Relations Chris Cylke praised the move in comments made to SBC Americas saying, “Raising the slot tax reporting threshold to $2,000 and indexing it to inflation is a long-overdue modernization that reduces regulatory burdens and improves the customer experience. It’s a hard-fought win for our industry, and we look forward to working on regulatory implementation.”
That AGA has been lobbying for this change for quite some time and in 2022 explained the effort saying, “Because the threshold has not kept up with inflation, this outdated policy has produced a dramatic increase in the number of reportable jackpots, which has increased the operational costs and associated burdens for casinos, their patrons, and the IRS.”