A senior official of the American Gaming Association said the organization is optimistic that the Internal Revenue Service will finally raise the threshold for reporting slot wins higher than the current $1,200 in 2021. The reporting threshold has been in place since 1977, and casino operators have argued that the rate of inflation alone is reason to rise the threshold higher
“We have a strong case (and) a growing base of support,” said AGA Senior Vice President of Government Relations Chris Cylke, in an interview with CDC Gaming Reports following the AGA’s first “G2E Insider Live” webinar.
Cylke moderated a panel during the webinar titled “The Post-Election Landscape and Implications for Gaming.” On the panel were Aurene Martin, president of Spirit Rock Consulting of Virginia; Phil Cox, founding partner of D.C. consulting firm 50 State; Todd Webster, principal of Cornerstone, a government relations firm based in Washington, D.C.; and Eric Zulkosky, a lobbyist with Fierce Government Relations.
“It’s anachronistic,” Webster said of the reporting threshold, which requires customers to stop playing and sign an IRS Form W2-G for tax purposes. “I can’t think of any other machine that’s taken out of service to comply with the IRS. That’s a penalty we’ll be hard at work trying to fix.”
Cylke and the panelists pointed to a House-approved provision that would direct the Treasury Department to review the threshold and report back to Congress within 90 days. Any revision would be attached to a spending measure eventually passed by both House and Senate.
“We’re optimistic,” Cylke told CDC. “It will give us a running clock for Treasury … and give us a good foot in the door to engage the incoming administration about this issue.”
