The US appeals court has ruled that overseas visitors should only pay tax on their overall winnings in a casino and not at present on each visit.
This follows several cases where visitors were taxed on each winning bet and eventually ended up losing both to the casino and then paying tax to the Inland Revenue Service (IRS).
At present US nationals were only allowed to pay tax on their overall duration winnings, not foreign visitors, that will now change.
Now if a foreign gambler loses eventually in a casino as opposed to one night wining they will not have to pay the IRS anything.
In a test case, Sang Park, a South Korean businessman, visited the Pechanga Casino and Resort in California in 2006 and 2007.
While he won more than $500,000 playing slot machines, he lost even more, leaving him with more than $50,000 in losses for those two years of gambling, according to court documents.
Nevertheless, the IRS taxed him on his winnings, claiming he owed more than $150,000 despite the fact that he lost money.
Park filed a lawsuit challenging his tax bill.
The IRS were opposing this ruling as it said that the logistics of tracking each players winnings on an overall state would be wholly difficult and near impossible to be accurate.
Source: gaming-awards.com
