[Actionbrett]

Ive never claimed my winnings and fortunate enough to not take a overall loss in a few years but saw something interesting today while having lunch at a local OTB.

This guy walked into the OTB with a paper bag and was stuffing it full of losing tickets that were left on the table, floor and even garbage. I asked him what he was doing and he said he claims gambling loses when he files his taxes in Febuary and keeps these for documentation if the time ever came up where he needed to prove documentation.

As im getting better at sports wagering this is something i need to be more familiar with because I should be claiming my overall winnings or loses.

Has anyone ever claimed their loses and do you actually get a majority of those funds back? if you lost 10K more then you've won what would you get back(estimated)?

I found this information on the irs.gov website
-------------------------------------------------------------
The IRS provides the following guidelines for proving gambling winnings and gambling losses that you report on your on your tax return:
--an accurate diary or similar record regularly maintained by the taxpayer, supplemented by verifiable documentation usually is acceptable evidence for substantiation of gambling winnings and gambling losses. In general, the diary should contain at least the following information:
--date and type of specific wager or gambling activity;
--name of gambling establishment;
--address or location of gambling establishment; and
--name(s) of other person(s) present with you at gambling
establishment.
--amount(s) of gambling winnings or gambling losses.

Verifiable documentation includes, but is not limited to, gambling tickets, canceled checks, credit records, bank withdrawals, and statements of actual gambling winnings or payment slips provided by the gambling establishment. When possible, the diary and available documentation of the placement and settlement of a wager should be supported by such documentation as hotel bills, airline tickets, gasoline credit cards, or affidavits or testimony from responsible gambling officials regarding the wagering activity.


....I have my bets logged but i don't go into extensive detail about where the bet was placed, the address and location and all the other information like the above mentions. For those who keep logs and claim their W/L's do you actually label the bet was placed at "Pinnacle Sportsbook" and their address?

Any comments on the above topics/questions is appreciated.

[MrX]

Well, first of all, the IRS is fully aware how easy it is to collect losing race tickets and will give those zero credibility if it came to an audit. A detailed daily log is the most important thing to keep.

You can only use losses to offset gambling wins, not to offset ordinary income, so losing $10,000 in a year isn't going to get you any more money back than breaking even.

[Justin7]

There was a case against a pro horse-racing player who did exactly this. He collected tons of losers that were tossed at the track.

He lost. It wasn't hard to show that he didn't bet there.

Don't screw with the IRS. Pay your taxes, especially if you make 50k+ per year (when fraud penalties kick in).

[20Four7]

while the tax man might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, don't think for a minute he'll believe you bet on every horse in a race for various amounts, win, place, show, exactas and tri's. If some guy came in with bags of losers to show me he didn't win I'd be laughing my ass off.

Thank god in canada, gambling winnings are tax free.

[thezbar]

Save the racing programs and attach the losing tickets to the individual race. Make sure the tickets are from one window and make some sort of logical pattern. Each ticket has the time it was printed on it. Have records of winning days also. I've known individuals that have created very passable records with some planning and effort.