The AGA has submitted its formal comments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on behalf of the gaming industry, after months of convening AGA-member tax, finance and operations experts and collecting industry-wide feedback. These comments represent a unified point of view on the IRS proposal to alter slot machine reporting requirements, specifically:
- Lowering the tax reporting threshold on slot machine play (as well as bingo and keno) would harm customers, casinos and the government by increasing costs and burdensome paperwork;
- Mandatory electronic player tracking requirements as a vehicle to report winnings would harm customers’ experience, fail to achieve the government’s goals and create a number of unintended consequences for our industry’s marketing efforts;
- Given the myriad technical impediments to the proposals, the IRS should not mandate one-size-fits-all regulation on the diverse, complex U.S. casino gaming industry, but instead should work with industry to form a more reasonable solution; and
- Working collaboratively is important to the AGA and the casino gaming industry at large – we seek to work with the IRS to better understand and help achieve their goals.
Since the IRS proposed regulations and notice, first published in March, more than 13,000 stakeholders have expressed their concerns with lowering the threshold for reporting slot winnings from $1,200 to $600. Additionally, 17 bipartisan members of Congress representing 11 different states, through the Congressional Gaming Caucus echoed these concerns in a letter to the IRS.
While June 2 is the deadline for comments, this issue will remain a top priority for the AGA until it is favorably resolved. We have requested to participate in the IRS public hearing on June 17, continue to educate members of Congress, build alliances with other industries and will activate the industry whenever appropriate.
Thank you for your engagement and feedback to date, we will keep you informed as this important issue continues to develop.
