IRS slot jackpot threshold is going up, experts say. But when?
At least, that is how many people close to the casino industry are interpreting the situation.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act included a revision to IRS Code Section 6041, increasing the reporting threshold to $2,000 and tying future increases to inflation, according to legislative and policy experts. That change will affect the $1,200 threshold that currently triggers W-2G tax forms when players hit slot jackpots.
The slot reporting threshold is governed by an IRS regulation, so the change will not go into effect until the agency updates its rules.
"Congress passes laws, but federal agencies write the regulations to implement them," a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., told the Review-Journal.
The IRS has not yet commented on the changes, and the federal agency did not respond to an email seeking confirmation.
Casino operators in Las Vegas are awaiting guidance. MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment, who collectively operate 17 casinos on The Strip, did not respond to questions about the reporting changes or whether they had received any notification from the IRS.
Nonetheless, the industry is claiming victory.
"Raising the slot tax reporting threshold to $2,000 and indexing it to inflation is a long-overdue modernization that reduces regulatory burdens and improves the customer experience," said Chris Cylke, senior vice president of government relations for the American Gaming Association, the Washington D.C.-based trade organization. "It's a hard-fought win for our industry, and we look forward to working on regulatory implementation."
The current slot jackpot reporting threshold of $1,200 has been in place since 1977.
Presently, it is unclear who is responsible for including the language that will update the slot reporting threshold or what the original intent was.
In March, Titus and U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., the co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Gaming Caucus, introduced the Shifting Limits on Thresholds (SLOT) Act to update the reporting threshold to $5,000 and index it to inflation. The bill has not moved since being introduced.
In 2023, the IRS's advisory council recommended that the agency increase the threshold to $5,000 and index it to inflation.
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