Money better spent locally, says Titus
Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada has asked for a repeal of the handle tax on sports books in the state.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, CG Technology CEO Lee Amaitis asked Titus if she knew how the tax money is spent. When the IRS could not account for it, Titus asked for the repeal.
“The IRS didn’t even know it existed,” Titus said. “The money just went into some black hole in the general fund.”
Nevada sports book operators pay 0.0025 percent in a federal handle tax on every sports wager. In 2013, based on the record $3.6 billion wagered on college and professional sports, the total came to $9 million.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to pay to the tax,” Amaitis said. “I just wanted to know where the money went.”
Titus suggests keeping the money in the local economy. “It can be reinvested into Nevada’s economy,” she said. “Gaming is our lifeblood, and this is a drop in the bucket to Washington.”
