When casinos give you free play as an example,
$100 and you have to put in say $5 to access
this extra play and when you cash out you
get $110, do you record that you made $105
or $5?
Some casinos give actual cash value to play.
On these you could add say the $100 to your
play amount without adding any money.
Again, if you leave with $110, do you
record a gain of $110 or $10?
What about losses?
I hope my question is not too obtuse.
I would record as a gain of $105. You started with cash out of pocket
of $5, you cashed out for $110, for a net of $105.
Don the Dentist
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "George Lee" <glee4ever@...> wrote:
When casinos give you free play as an example,
$100 and you have to put in say $5 to access
this extra play and when you cash out you
get $110, do you record that you made $105
or $5?
If you win a $10,000 cash prize in a casino contest, you get a tax
form. If you win a $10,000 watch, you get a tax form. If you win
$10,000 Free Play, no tax form. In my way of thinking, this suggests
that one is "expected" to report Free Play proceeds when redeemed. JMO
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "George Lee" <glee4ever@> wrote:
>
> When casinos give you free play as an example,
> $100 and you have to put in say $5 to access
> this extra play and when you cash out you
> get $110, do you record that you made $105
> or $5?
>
> When casinos give you free play as an example,
> $100 and you have to put in say $5 to access
> this extra play and when you cash out you
> get $110, do you record that you made $105
> or $5?I would record as a gain of $105. You started with cash out of
of $5, you cashed out for $110, for a net of $105.
Don the Dentist
Makes sense to me.
The Monte Carlo sent me a $250 FreePlay coupon with no stay required
which I cashed in April. I inserted $25 and played at a $5 Jacks
machine only until the FreePlay was depleted. I cashed out for $675
mostly thanks to a four-of-a-kind I got early.
My win was $650, and on my MGM-Mirage win/loss statement for 2007
that's exactly what is listed next to Monte Carlo for the one and
only time I played there last year.
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "dds2124" <dds6@...> wrote:
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "George Lee" <glee4ever@> wrote:
Re: "If you win $10,000 Free Play, no tax form"
This is not true in my case. And, I'm pretty sure that each casino handles
it differently.
I won "Free Play" in more than one tournament during the year at the same
casino. None of the individual prizes were over $600. But, the total for
the year was over $600.
I got a 1099 in the mail for the cumulative total of Free Play that I won.
However, the Free Play that I earned during the year was NOT included in the
1099.
On 1/15/08, vegasvpplayer <vegasvpplayer@juno.com> wrote:
If you win a $10,000 cash prize in a casino contest, you get a tax
form. If you win a $10,000 watch, you get a tax form. If you win
$10,000 Free Play, no tax form. In my way of thinking, this suggests
that one is "expected" to report Free Play proceeds when redeemed. JMO
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
From a strict standpoint, there are two separate events here: you
receive "Free Play", which has a value of the EV of the game you can
use it on X the face value of the free play. Then, you run it
through the machine, and you realize a net gain or loss. For
example, let's say you were playing something crappy like 7/5 Bonus
Poker. $100 in Free Play at this 98% game is worth $98. If you then
cash out, say, $120, you have a gain of $22. This is important from
a tax standpoint because the "Free Play" may have been "earned" via
playing negative EV games, or as partial compensation for a loss. If
you received that $100 in Free Play from having a long losing
session where you were, say, -$1400 (whether it came in the form of
bounceback cash, or was earned directly by point accumulation), then
when you cash out that $120, you HAVEN'T MADE $120. This is even
true if the earlier loss was in a previous calendar year; you simply
adjust your loss figures from that previous session to the NET loss
when considering the Free Play earned.
Of course, such scrupulous record-keeping would also presume that
you should report Free Play earned during a WINNING session as added
on to that session's win totals. The point I am trying to make is
that Free Play, or other kinds of bounceback cash, does not appear
out of the blue, and should be considered as earnings from PREVIOUS
sessions.