Some recent questions have come in specifically asking about the element of taxes around the Self Pay, or Fast Pay, system Brian Christopher has sometimes shown in his videos, as opposed to the standard jackpot handpay process followed for more slot wins above $1,200:
When there is self pay for jackpots on machines, how does the casino distinguish how much of what you cash out was a jackpot for tax purposes?
Sheila H.
And
If you win a jackpot and then self pay how do you pay taxes on that?
Ann
What we see many players get confused about understanding Self Pay, or Fast Pay, is that it goes through a different process regarding the existing reporting requirements and the accompanying paperwork. It’s a different way to handle the same steps.
We share the specifics about how it works here, but in summary, you have to go to the cashier first to activate the process, and then you return to the cashier at the end of the day to receive your paperwork. The paperwork rolls up all the reportable jackpots within a single day, instead of having one paper per jackpot, a helpful time savings come tax time.
As such, to Sheila’s question, when a jackpot is triggered, it’s still logged and reported as any other one is, but it’s simply done digitally, instead of by hand via the slot attendant. So it’s effectively a streamlining digitally of what was a more manual process.
And to Ann’s question, you would report the income on your taxes like you would any other jackpot handpay, and pay taxes if owed. It’s effectively the same as opting out of having taxes deducted at the time of the jackpot.
If you are able to itemize your deductions, you can write off losses against the winnings up to a certain point; if you fall into that bucket a check-in with a tax accountant can advise you on your individual situation.
