issuing W2G up to the casino?

[TEKEE]

is this really up to the casino?

[psandman]

Not really, however there are two things that are up to the casino. One is whether or not to decide to follow the agreement between the IRS and Binion's, the second is if not following that agreement how much risk is the casino going to take in the way they choose to interpret the IRS regulations.

[bav]

'Bout everybody but Harrah's refuses to do W2G's. IRS people bounce around insisting it's mandatory. Casino folks with balls and with lawyers actually look at the tax regs and legal precedents and claim they don't have to. IRS keeps posturing, casinos apparently keep saying there is no such requirement.

[youtalkfunny]

Maybe things have changed, but a few years ago, there were many threads about casinos issuing W2G's; players insisting that they were not necessary; poker managers insisting that the accounting people upstairs insist that they were necessary; and accounting people admitting, "Look, we don't know, and we don't care, we just take a 'better safe than sorry' stance when it comes to potentially pissing off the IRS."

Example: one clueless manager I know read the back of the W2G, saw the part that said something lke, "A W2G must be issued if the winnings are 300x the entry fee..." This manager deduced that in a $50+5 tournament, anyone who cashed for more than $5*300 needed a W2G! "It says 'entry fee', not 'buy-in plus entry fee'," she insisted.

If this has changed, I'm glad to hear it.

[bav]

At the moment, 'cept in freerolls, nobody but Harrah's properties and maybe Binions issue W2G's that I know of. Freerolls I think they regard as different, so I've gotten 1099G's for a couple of those.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

To some extent, yes. There are certain gaming laws that require W2G, like over 1200 in slots, over 600 in poker promotional money, etc.

At the moment, certain casinos issue them for certain things that others don't. Most notably all harrahs properties issue a W2G for all poker tournament wins $600 or more, regardless of the buy-in or number of entrants. Play the exact same tournament at a non-harrahs joint, no W2G. If you and me play a heads-up SNG at harrahs for $300 each, the winner gets a W2G.

So the answer is sometimes yes.

[52s]

The reasoning, I was told from someone who works in the Harrahs org, behind Harrahs going to all W2Gs stems from the 2005 WSOP and the subsequent hunt-down of the likes of Gavin Smith and Evelyn Ng in tournies later in the year to pay taxes on their winnings.

Basically, Harrahs screwed the pooch somewhere in regard to taxation during the WSOP and the IRS came down upon them with the hammer and fined them big.

So to cover their ass in the future, they went to all W2G.

[bav]

Funny, the reason *I* was given by poker room management types was "when we bought Binion's Horseshoe, we inherited the Binion's Closing Agreement and are now required to abide by it."

But they were already W2Ging everybody in the 2005 WSOP. I gots a sample right here. They can't use what happened after the 2005 WSOP as an excuse.

[52s]

::shrugs::

Harrah's is such a mess that a number of explanations are possible.