Losing less and saving big on taxes

The lighter side... playing for entertainment, less concerned about "the math."
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olds442jetaway
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Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:08 pm

Losing less and saving big on taxes

Post by olds442jetaway »

So far for 2020, I have kept my new year’s resolution of losing much less than in prior years and saving big on taxes. While I am able to write off gambling losses on my 1040 sch 1 up to the amount of winnings, this cost me big bucks in 2018 because one is forced to itemize their deductions. The standard deduction doubled and the cap on state and local tax deductions of 10,000 cost me about 4,000 in 2018 because I was forced to itemize. In addition, my greedy state taxes you on gross gambling winnings with no write off ability. This cost me another 4,000 in additional state income taxes. The bottom line is I have avoided W-2Gs so far for 2020 and plan to do so for the remainder of the year. I was given an additional incentive to do this from the casinos themselves because they cut back so much on comps even though my play level if anything had been higher. Well, they shot themselves in the foot at least in Ct. because both Ct casinos have been bleeding revenus big time for months. So far all of this has fallen on deaf ears with casino management. I warned the higher ups at both casinos this would happen as soon as the new tax law was passed for 2018. As usual casino management does their own thing and does not listen to patrons or even their tax savy employees who warned them of the same thing. I did find though from talking to hosts and other employees even in player development that most of them are pretty clueless when it comes to the relationship of casino gambling and tax consequences for the patrons. I will take another tax hit for 2019, but it won’t be as bad as 2018. It took me awhile to wean myself off the excitement and necessity to get those big hand pays only to give them back in just a couple of sessions

olds442jetaway
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Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:08 pm

Post by olds442jetaway »

One more tidbit that Ct casinos haven’t learned and Otabill more than most others will understand. Though Ct casinos have non smoking areas, they are not walled off and the smoke drifts in there quite badly. Massachusetts casinos do not allow smoking and there are now two big ones. Many seniors and patrons maybe in their mid 40s and forward are now flocking to Mass for health reasons. In addition, the people in this age group are the ones with the most disposable income. The younger set unfortunately, for the most part thinks they are invincible and continue to chain smoke and drink themselves into future oblivion.

olds442jetaway
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Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:08 pm

Post by olds442jetaway »

I just checked the latest info from the public record State portal. Not surprisingly, Mohegan Sun’s handle for December was off 80 some million from December 2018 and Foxwoods handle was off 60 some million for the same period.

OTABILL
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Post by OTABILL »

olds442jetaway wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:01 pm
One more tidbit that Ct casinos haven’t learned and Otabill more than most others will understand. Though Ct casinos have non smoking areas, they are not walled off and the smoke drifts in there quite badly. Massachusetts casinos do not allow smoking and there are now two big ones. Many seniors and patrons maybe in their mid 40s and forward are now flocking to Mass for health reasons. In addition, the people in this age group are the ones with the most disposable income. The younger set unfortunately, for the most part thinks they are invincible and continue to chain smoke and drink themselves into future oblivion.
Absolutely Olds. I see and experience in taking care of my wife the damage of smoke-filled casinos every day.

olds442jetaway
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Posts: 9262
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:08 pm

Post by olds442jetaway »

I so wish I could convince the young people. That is a difficult job as one is competing with peer pressure

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