Video Poker Cutting Back Denominations

I normally play $1, $2, sometimes $5 or $10 VP. As you can imagine, I get a bunch of W2G''s in a years time.
Getting tired of reporting all of this "false" income. Has anyone successfully quit this level of play and switched to $.25 single VP and been able to stay at that level? With at top payout of $1,000 there would be no W2G's to create "false" income that penalizes one on Medicare premiums or keeping meticulous gambling logs.

Let me add that I’m a Texas resident and am also tired of paying nonresident taxes in other states.

 

I'll occasionally play a bit of $5 VP if my bankroll can withstand it. I have switched from DDB to JoB or sometimes BP to reduce the possibility of a W-2. If I hit a $20k royal, I guess I can live with the W-2! BTW,
I figure if I do want to play DDB, I should move up to the $25 denom. If a quad is going to trigger a W-2 anyway, may as well be a big payday! I wouldn't do $50 because then every full house would be a handpay.

Here's an exception to my rule. This was at Baha Mar in Nassau. The Bahamian authorities do not tax gambling winnings. This wasn't even a handpay. The machine counted out the 250 credits, and I just played the next hand.

 

I would say my success rate is property specific
I have no issue sticking to it at the GC unless the $1 progressive gets juicy
Some places I'm only able to stick to it for my "I'm too drunk to play" sessions

 

If you are getting several W-2Gs a year, I'm just guessing that you probably play enough to get comps.

Not that you are "playing for comps," but if you are used to getting and using them, the most obvious implication of dropping to quarters from $1 denom is that you will have to spend 4x as much time playing in order to rack up the same comps.

I would seriously look into how session reporting works. Last year, I reported the way I always had in the past, and the amount of W2Gs I got increased the taxable amount of my Social Security from 30% to 50% and therefore cost me almost $2,000 in taxes on $8,500 in W2Gs. it was the first year I had handpays while also collecting Soc Sec.

I started keeping a log this year and I'm going to use session reporting for the first time.

This year, I have $5,200 in W2-Gs (with one trip to go), but no winning sessions (ie. days).

A session can be defined as all your machine play during a calendar day at a single casino, unbroken by any visits to another casino or a table game session(s).

So if your habit is to only play VP and/or slots on a given day, and at a single casino on that day, the logging and recordkeeping is fairly simple. I play slots at $5 denom and I have a budget (and comps and gambling results) I'm comfortable with, and there's no way I'm interested in playing 12 hours a day to avoid W2-Gs instead of 3 hours.

Look up IRS Notice 2015-21 and download it if you're interested It's an IRS PDF that has the definitions of what constitutes a session. It's a regulation that was never officially put into effect, but is based on prior tax court rulings and is the basis for how I'm doing it. There's also this page that describes the principal and how to fill out the disclosure form.

(Doesn't like the link, but if you're interested pm me I'll tell you how to get to the page)

If you use tax software, you can still use it, but you probably shouldn't E-File your return from it, because you won't be putting in any W-2G info. There's also one form required that isn't included in the software I use. So I'll have to print out my return, add the required extra form, and submit it by mail.

 

From the little I see in from your TRs, it looks like you like TDB, and don't go out of your way to find a 9/7 paytable. I say this because 9/7 TDB (99.58%) for multiline is nearly impossible to find. The only play in Vegas with 9/7 multiline quarters is South Point.

So if you're not looking to completely cut your gambling down to single line quarters, you could also consider playing 3/5/10 play quarters. Sure you still get W2Gs if you get multiple or dealt premiums on the deal, but it would lower the amount of W2Gs you had to deal with overall.

 

Everyone, please keep your opinions on how taxes from gambling results are determined in the US to yourselves. That is not the main point of this topic.

 

Yes, Louisiana screwed us over big time last year with out of state filing to get back our taxes on those losses. Ouch. It wasn’t like the years before, which made Louisiana my piggy bank.

I am with you on the big play and trying to rethink it. It’s very hard to go down after you have played higher though.

 

I’m a quarter player (but I do prefer triple play). I think if you can handle that the pay tables aren’t as good at the lower levels, and you get the vibe (bartop, ambient casino vibe etc) you could it.

 

right. With the old tax code, we can get most of the 6% back.
But with the new tax code, we get almost nothing back. That sucks.

 

I have increased my denomination in order to meet the higher demands for casino tiers which have the resorts fee comped, it is no longer a 2 to1 vp to slot ratio at most places now. Losing sessions playing higher denomination or multihand would mean fewer in-between trips to recover from. Of course the drawback is higher chances for taxable winnings.

I will be weighing the number of nights I spend at Vegas next year as well as the theoretical losses that it takes earn the comped resort fee benefit.