Do rewards cards encode to show if a player has won much more than he plays. Can they inhibit larger payouts until an imbalance between winning and losing totals is close to equal. Would this be legal?

The slot club cards do let the casino know how much money you have won and lost.

That information is used by the casinos to reward you with “comps” and/or cashback based on the amount of money are betting in the casino.

All gaming regulations require that results on gaming machines to be determined randomly and the casinos cannot do anything to alter the outcome of play based on your win/loss totals.

So I bet $300 in an hour on a dollar BJ machine, and win $325 (meaning I’m up $25); is that a win-loss statement that I could get taxed on?

ChumpChange - 21 February 2010 08:15 AM

So I bet $300 in an hour on a dollar BJ machine, and win $325 (meaning I’m up $25); is that a win-loss statement that I could get taxed on?

Technically, yes.  However, the casino is not going to report that amount to the IRS; you would have to do that yourself, and should you do so you could counterbalance it with claims of losses from that and other forms of gambling.  (Of course you might have to document those losses.)