Video Poker Forum

According to what I just looked up on the State website, you can’t get the 3 percent back. You don’t have to file a Miss state return though if that is the only income you earned in Mississippi. Residents do not have to report gambling income earned in Mississippi on their State return.

Here is a screenshot of the faq portion of their website.

The website was a bit confusing, but if I read it correctly, the casinos withhold the 3 percent on everybody and even residents cannot get credit for it.

I play in Mississippi quite a bit. The 3% is a "fee". It has to be factored into the potential return. You are much better off in Mississippi hitting deuces 5 times at $1 than once at $5, when you combine the federal, the increase in gross income, and the Mississippi "fee". I always adjust the paytables to take into account the "fee". I also play in Louisiana some, which has a 6% tax on jackpots, but it is fully refundable. So usually, the lower paytables in Louisiana are offset by the refundable tax.

Governments evidently don’t care or even know they are shooting themselves in the foot revenue wise. For 2020, after paying needless state on Ct income tax on gross winnings for years, I finally said enough is enough. No gross winnings for me for 2020. What made me make the final decision was the fed decision to cap state and local taxes when you itemize at 10k and even though they doubled the standard
deduction, they still require you to itemize to deduct gross gambling winnings on a schedule A. Then there is the medicare part B penalty and on and on. So screw both of them..... for 2020, I will probably pay legally the theiving state of Ct about 10,000 less in income tax, and save at least 4,000 on the federal side. In the meantime, the casino revenue to the state will continue to fall because people like me will just gamble much less and of course gambling less means losing less. Ct gets 25 percent of slot revenue and both Ct casinos continue to slide downward every month. Finally, because the legislature has decided not to pass a no smoking casino law like Mass did, I may just shift all of my remaining business to Massachuttes. After all, what is more important? Health or money?

Chicagoan wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 26, 2020 12:00 pm

You are much better off in Mississippi hitting deuces 5 times at $1 than once at $5, when you combine the federal, the increase in gross income, and the Mississippi "fee".

How much of an advantage do you need to overcome a 3% State tax? How much to overcome the federal tax? How much extra are you paying for each W2-G? Think about that the next time you walk by someone playing quarters.

The real question though is- how will global warming affect the RNGs? I have this picture in my head of Floridians standing ankle deep in water with their pants rolled up pounding the deal button...and cocktail waitresses in kayaks

Phil, I think most people who consistently play at higher levels are steadily weighing the risk vs reward. At a high limit, the machines really suck up the cash, and no one is going to do it on a sustained basis without an acceptable outcome. Sure, there are plenty of folks who might go to a $5 (or a $100) machine for an occasional thrill, but no one plays high limit steadily over time without analyzing their expense vs their revenue. And for quarters vs $5, time on device also factors in. Spending many hours plugging away at quarters for me is like watching the grass grow.

I agree. Most players need to feel like they are going to win something substantial in order to enjoy video poker. Generally, the higher the denomination the better the odds. After you factor in taxes, the net return could be even worse than playing small. A good example is the five $1,000 quads above. If one of my pot shots pays off, it most likely will be a $1,000 quad deuce. I walk out with $1,000 with no State or Federal Tax. This is not how the tax laws read. However that's how they work in everyday practice.

If I played a significant amount of video poker in a gambling tax state, I would seriously consider playing below the tax threshold. In my view, not taking taxes into consideration is throwing money away. I would play small and save my money to play where the taxes laws were more accommodating.

Stick to video poker discussion. It’s pointless to try to change ones opinion these days