We hear from a lot of players who like to pool their money and play together. These scenarios naturally lead to moments where concerns come up, such as what happens with a jackpot handpay. Here’s one question we received recently:
What if two people are playing together and splitting the cost and then win a jackpot? Can they split the tax too?
Lisa M.
This is an example of a question without one right answer, because it will largely come down to the rules that specific casino operate under, whether by regional regulations or, more commonly, the individual casino’s policies for such scenarios, otherwise known as the house rules.
We are definitely aware of casinos that will allow the splitting of a jackpot among two or more people. In the past, when we looked into the options of handling taxes for group pulls, we even encountered scenarios where we could theoretically split it among all participants! But that would come with a very lengthy delay to process them.
So, there’s more paperwork involved, to be sure, but that is a scenario that is possible at some casinos.
But more commonly, casinos have more straightforward (for them) rules, such as whoever pushes the button to make the wager is responsible for the jackpot. This means one tax form to process per jackpot – easier for them, but potentially a more challenging scenario for the two of you playing if the tax burden could be less than ideal for either (or both) of you.
The casino you’re gambling at should be able to verify their rules ahead of time, so you can be aware of what to expect. Slot attendants should know, and probably someone at the cashier, if you want to verify upfront.
But the key takeaway here is that there’s no universal rule around these sorts of things, so it’s always better to do a bit of homework upfront if there may be an issue as a result of how they handle it.
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