Proof of losses while gambling on slot machines. (2024)

My question is if I have a spreadsheet for the year that tracks the date, place, and starting amount of money I had in my pocket, the winnings reported on W2G’s, and then at the end of the day I record what I have in my pocket is that enough proof of losses for the day. I have no winning/loss report. Yes, a spreadsheet that tracks the date, place and amount you started with, etc is enough to prove losses.

The reason you can't report that you came home with just $100 is that the IRS taxes your winnings and then you can ONLY deduct your losses if you itemize. So, if you do not itemize, even though you spent all but $100, you can't claim the amount you spent.

Basically, however much you win becomes your cash to spend once you collect it. If you put it all back in after you collect it, then it is now lost. So if you went to the casino with $1,000, won another $2,000 and then went home with $100. You had winnings of $2,000 and a loss of $2,900. However, since gambling winnings are only deductible up to the amount of gambling losses, you would only be able to claim a lossIn order to claimgambling losses, you must itemize your return. So even if you left it ride in your account and then lost it all betting it again, you would need to include the winnings as income and then itemize your return to claim any of the losses.

Other Itemized expenses include mortgage interest, state and local taxes up to $10,000, medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your AGI and casualty and losses in excess of 10% of you AGI with the first $100 not counting towards the loss. Your health insurance and all medical expenses are only deductible for the amount that is over 7.5% of your AGI. This means if your AGI is $50,000, then the amount that is over $3,750 is deductible.

Then your total itemized expenses would need to be greater than your standard deduction below in order to benefit from your insurance premium payments.