In 2015, a proposal was released by the Internal Revenue Service which would have seen changes made to the tax reporting requirements involving slot winnings. The changes would have been hard on the gaming industry according to the American Gaming Association and thankfully, when the final regulation was revealed, the tax reporting decrease for slot winnings was dropped along with other proposed changes.

The IRS was considering creating a mandate that would include electronic player tracking plus the threshold for slot jackpot win reporting changed to $600 from $1,200. When the info for the final regulation was released by the IRS it did not include either proposal.

In a statement in regards to the regulation, the AGA commented that on the optional aggregation method, payee ID and other provisions, the final regulation appears to incorporate many suggestions involving technical aspects that were recommended by the AGA. This includes using gaming day for optional aggregation.

The AGA has been in talks with the IRS since last year to try and see the electronic player tracking and jackpot reporting thresholds proposals removed from the regulation. CEO and President of the AGA, Geoff Freeman, stated that both local and state governments would have received less tax dollars from gaming due to ‘burdensome federal requirements’ of such changes.

Freeman stated further that the AGA looks forward to working with the IRS and federal partners to modernize regulations as well as protecting millions of customers of casinos around the country.