UPDATE 12/17/25: Late in the year the IRS posted draft documentation finally confirming the change. Click here to read the latest update.
Many are wondering what’s ahead if the reportable jackpot handpay threshold increases. One example is around the question of slot attendants:
Don’t you think that there will be a big decrease in the number of slot attendants if the hand pay jackpot rises to $2000. I know that a lot of attendants need the approximately 1% tip money that is typical on the low end jackpots. It’s the high rollers who are typically the worst slot tippers, plus many have auto deposit on their jackpots.
Jay R.
There’s a lot going on in this question! But it’s very similar to the idea that Self Pay, or Fast Pay, will reduce the number of trips slot attendants need to make, and equally impact them.
The reality is part of the reason why we have this structure to begin with is that the handpay jackpot reporting threshold hasn’t been raised in about 50 years. Casinos and players alike shouldn’t be this reliant on slot attendants to begin with, but because there hasn’t been any adjustments, including for inflation, here we are.
It certainly stands to reason that the number of jackpots requiring paperwork would go down. We would expect slot makers to also leverage the higher threshold to design games that can award bigger prizes without tripping over the reportable amount.
Famously, a Willie Nelson slot machine by Everi featured an $1,199 payout that played off the previous $1,200 threshold, and another was designed to keep awarding individual spins that were below the threshold, instead of one big payout.
As far as the staff, whether it removes so many jackpots that it would impact staffing levels isn’t a lock. Many casinos could benefit from having a bit more slot attendant time to get on top of things like getting machines back into service, for instance. And players might not have to wait so long during busier times for assistance, a complaint we often see on casino forums. To some degree staffing has already been cut at some casinos where the attendants could use a bit of relief.
Tipping is a personal decision, so we can’t speak to the issue of slot jackpots and tips and who’s more generous. But less jackpots to process could very well mean less tips, and possibly staffing cuts that mean less people to tip, and so we don’t want to downplay the impact on those employees.
But like other changes in the casino industry, we would expect adaptation after everyone gets used to the new normal, and that includes slot attendants and how they’re taken care of by the casinos and patrons.
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