When something hasn’t changed as long as the jackpot handpay reportable level, it leads some to wonder what sort of process will occur when such a change does arrive (and we’re still doubtful as if that change is happening yet or not). Here’s a question along those lines:
There’s so much talk about changing the $1200 amount that triggers a W2-G. If this were to change, how long would it take to implement this change on slot machines? Would it be the manufacturer or the casino itself that would make the change? Let’s hope it happens!
Todd P.
It’s pretty safe to assume that number, like a variety of other elements, has been a configurable option in slots for awhile now. In that way, they’re somewhat future proofed to the inevitable changes that will happen along the way.
So that means it’s going to be up to the casino to manage these changes. And that’ll mean casinos will have to open up each machine one by one to configure the change. This will likely take awhile, particularly for casinos that have thousands of slots.
So what will happen at first is the machine will lock up, the player will get paid by hand, but many of the steps that currently take place for jackpots would be skipped, if the number was below the new level. So say you win $1,201 but $2,000 is the new limit, they don’t have to do paperwork, which means they don’t need your Social Security Number, etc.
It would be similar to when a machine malfunctions (say, it loses communication with the system that can print a ticket) and requires you to be paid out. The slot attendant still has to go get you your money, but other steps aren’t needed.
Clearly casinos will want to avoid unnecessary trips and work, so they’ll likely get on switching things over as soon as practical, but for some short window of time, there’d be a transitional period where machines lock up at a number below which they’d have to do so.
In the case of fast pay, or self pay, we wouldn’t expect too many changes except those under the new reportable level would simply not get added to the daily list. Players would still be able to enter their PIN to accept the win and move on.
So that’s basically what we’d expect – it would just be a window of transition until casinos had a chance to update the machines to the new level.
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