Gambling Feed

Updated Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024 A New Jersey resident has finally claimed the nearly $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot that was won on March 26, according to New Jersey Lottery officials. For obvious reasons, the winner of the fifth highest jackpot in the national lottery’s history wants to remain anonymous. But regardless of whether we find out the identity of America’s newest millionaire — the winner has opted to take a lump payment of $537.5 million before state and federal taxes — the winner needs to take some steps, like those listed below, to preserve the newfound wealth. The same... Read more →


Tomorrow night, we’ll have a repeat Super Bowl winner. Both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles have hoisted the NFL’s Lombardi Trophy before. As I type late Saturday afternoon, sportsbooks have the defending champion Chiefs as 1.5-point favorites to win their third consecutive professional U.S. football title. The bets on the game’s outcome, as well as the many possible prop bets mentioned in my Friday post, have gotten more attention as more states have allowed wagering within their borders since the gave them the go-ahead in 2018. So, for this Saturday Shout Out, I’m getting ready for tomorrow's game... Read more →


UPDATE, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025: Yes, that's green font in honor of Philadelphia's Super Bowl LIX win last night. I'm taking solace in that it took a Texan, Houston native Jalen Hurts, to lead the Eagles to the title. Did you place a prop bet on last night's NFL championship game? If it paid off, you owe tax on the winnings. Check out the results of some of the most popular Chiefs-Eagles prop bets. Super Bowl LIX is Sunday. It's a rematch between the Kansas City and Philadelphia. KC is looking to take home a third consecutive Lombardi Trophy. The... Read more →


Photo by Pixabay The 2025 federal tax filing season officially starts Monday, Jan. 27. Millions of taxpayers already are working on their returns. Some have even completed them. Most of these folks are in a hurry to get their Form 1040 to the Internal Revenue Service because they are expecting a refund. Many also don’t have very complicated tax situations. Or they think they don’t. But something may have changed in their personal lives that could affect their filings, for better or worse. So before they — or you — hit send on their tax year 2024 filing, it’s a... Read more →


Photo by Pixabay We’re heading into the home stretch, and playoff push, of the National Football League (NFL) season. It’s the most popular sport in the United States. Since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 okayed state-authorized sports betting, the NFL has gained new fans who are more interested in how the games can make them a few, or more, bucks. Currently, 38 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have legalized some form of sports betting, though not all have implemented it. Now the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) wants to help states... Read more →


Since the Supreme Court in 2018 let states allow betting on college sports, sportsbook activity, like this in a Las Vegas casino, has pick up substantially. (Photo by Kay Bell) College and professional sports dominate screens right now. And sports wagering has increased annually since the Supreme Court of the United States in 2018 opened the door for states to allow sports betting on collegiate competitions. The high court’s move also made it possible for the Internal Revenue Service to collect on winning bets placed at legal sportsbooks. For the most part, those operations report the amounts that went into... Read more →


Regular readers already know this, but since the college and professional football seasons are underway, and we’re about to head into Major League Baseball’s playoffs, it’s time for a reminder. Any winning sports bets are taxable income at the federal and most state levels. Sports betting’s growth: More of us are pocketing a few extra dollars after the games since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 ruled that states can decide whether to allow gambling within their borders. That includes online betting. Currently, 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of sports betting. Twenty-seven of those states... Read more →


Photo by Luca Dugaro on Unsplash The 2024 Olympics, summer games version, started today with lots of men’s football (soccer to us Americans) and rugby matches on the schedule. Most of us, though, won’t start paying close attention until Friday’s (July 26) opening ceremony. Tennis phenom Coco Gauff and NBA superstar LeBron James, stars at the professional level in their respective sports, will be the Team USA flag bearers. Not only is Gauff the first tennis player to get the opening procession honor, at 20 she is the youngest U.S. Olympian to do so. That’s a fitting complement to veteran... Read more →


Photo by Aidan Howe on Unsplash U.S. commercial gambling revenue hit a quarterly record of $17.67 billion in first three months of 2024. It marks the gaming industry’s 13th consecutive quarter of growth, according to the American Gaming Association. And Caitlin Clark hadn’t even played a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) game yet. Clark’s WNBA May 14 debut with her Indiana Fever facing the Connecticut Sun drew an average television audience of 2.13 million viewers, making it the most watched WNBA game in almost 23 years. I’m willing to bet, pun intended, that is also was the most bet on... Read more →


Shortly after MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani joined the Los Angeles Dodgers, a federal sports gambling scandal involving his now-former translator Ippei Mizuhara broke. This week, Mizuhara (below left), agreed to a plea deal. (Mizuhara photo by Moto "Club4AG" Miwa from USA - Angels vs Mariners 2019-6-8 Anaheim Stadium, CC BY 2.0. Ohtani photo by All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA - Dodgers at Nationals, CC BY-SA 2.0.) Sports and courts too often coincide outside the usual tennis venues. Leagues are sued by competitors. Broadcasting rights battles are litigated. Players’ union grievances are heard by various judges. Individual players sometimes... Read more →


The Internal Revenue Service IRS is expected to process more than 160 million individual and business tax returns this filing season. Through March 15, the IRS had received nearly 71.6 million individual returns. Some taxpayers probably put off filing in the hopes that the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act would be enacted by Tax Day. Several of its provisions could help both personal and business filers. Whether that will happen is still unclear, as the tax bill that cleared the House has hit a lot of speed bumps in the Senate. Other taxpayers, however, aren't that concerned... Read more →


Photo by Kay Bell Not only was last Sunday's Super Bowl LVIII the most watched National Football League championship game ever, it set a betting record. In case you were one of the apparently very few who missed it, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime. The comeback was similar to the less dramatic result back in 2020, when the two teams faced off in Super Bowl 54. That year, MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes and not-yet-Taylor-Swift's boyfriend Travis Kelce raised their first Lombardi Trophy. The Nevada Gaming Control Board tallied $185.6 million in bets across 182... Read more →


Allegiant Stadium will be filled with 49ers and Chiefs fans Sunday as they vie for the NFL championship in Super Bowl LVIII. (Photo: Allegiant Stadium) This Sunday, millions will watch the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers face off in Las Vegas to determine the National Football League's championship. With the Sin City location, it's fitting that a record 67.8 million American adults are expected to bet on Super Bowl LVIII. That's a 35 percent increase from 2023, according to a new American Gaming Association (AGA) survey. The dollar amount also is up this year. Bettors plan to wager... Read more →


Is getting rich one of your 2024 New Year resolutions? It could happen tonight if you have the winning Powerball numbers. The Dec. 30, 2023, drawing didn't produce a winner of the multi-million dollar jackpot. So tonight's Powerball payout for a single winner is $810 million, or the more likely $408.9 million that's available in a single payment. The possible payout already is the fifth largest Powerball jackpot. And it will grow a bit more today, as wishful millionaires buy tickets up until the numbers are chosen at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time tonight. UPDATE, Jan. 2, 2024: The New Year's... Read more →


Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash There are nine states with no personal income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. I mention this today because the lone winner of last night’s Mega Millions $361 million ($157.3 million one-time cash option) jackpot bought the slip in Texas. If that person lives here, he/she/they are in luck, since the millions only have to be shared with the Internal Revenue Service. California, Washington special situations: The same goes for the other no-income-tax states, as well as California. Yep, although California is infamous for many and varied... Read more →


Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, usually hosts rugby matches. On Saturday, Aug. 26, it will once again be configured to meet U.S. college football dimensions for a Navy-Notre Dame game. Here's how Aviva looked in 2012 when the two teams played there. (Photo by Papachinzo via Wikipedia CC) The 2023 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college football season kicks off this Saturday. I'll be yelling (yes, literally screaming at my TV in joy and, no doubt, frustration) for the Naval Academy's midshipmen as they take on Notre Dame in Ireland. Yep, the country of Ireland. Talk about an... Read more →


America's elite billionaires club last week welcomed a new member. The person who has the sole winning ticket, purchased at a Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach, Florida, can claim the $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot. The Aug. 8 jackpot was the largest Mega Millions jackpot awarded, according to the national lottery. The winner, who has yet to come forward, has the option of taking the nearly $1.6 billion spread out over 30 years. Or the winner can slide into the millionaires' club by getting a single cash payment of $783.3 million. One vs. 30 payouts: Most people opt for... Read more →


FanDuel On July 1, Tennessee will become the first state to tax sports betting handle. That means the Volunteer State's tax take will be based on based on the total amount of money wagered, instead of revenue collected. For a few more days, Tennessee will impose a 20 percent tax on adjusted gross gambling revenue (AGR). Next month, it will tax sports betting handle at 2 percent. The reason is, of course, money. Millions more to collect: A Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee financial summary of the bill making the taxing methodology change notes that more than $3.77 billion... Read more →


Photo by Ays Be on Unsplash Congratulations to the Denver Nuggets on winning their first National Basketball Association championship. Congratulations, too, to all the bettors (like Drake) who pocketed some cash when their sports wagers paid off. Now all that's left is declaring those winnings as income on 2023 tax returns next year and paying the tax due on the money. Since sports betting has expanded across much of the United States, the Internal Revenue Service is in a much better position to know about these winnings and collect the associated taxes. U.S. commercial gaming revenue reached a quarterly record... Read more →


In 1896, the first college basketball game was played. Now, 127 years later, the hoopla known as March Madness is big business and big betting. The annual NCAA Division 1 college basketball tournaments, both men's and women's matches, dominate the airwaves, with networks paying millions for the broadcast rights. Fans follow on their in-home televisions, as well as on their mobile devices via the internet. Seeding, schmeeding: The wins aren't just important to the teams, the university cities, or the colleges' alums. Bettors have placed millions on the games, and lots of them have already lost big. Upsets busted brackets... Read more →


Casino sportsbooks like this one in Las Vegas still take plenty of sports bets, but thanks to the Supreme Court's 2018 ruling allowing states to open up sports gambling within their borders, this year's Super Bowl wagering broke betting records. Happy Super Bowl Monday hangover! I'll try to type softly for all y'all skipping work today to recover from either celebrating your Kansas City Chiefs hoisting the Lombardi Trophy again or hunkering down because you drowned your Philadelphia Eagles' fan sorrows a bit too much. Regardless of the National Football League championship result, I hope at least some of your... Read more →