Is the COVID-19 pandemic finally behind us? It sure feels like it. From a gaming perspective, the rise in casino revenues is surely an encouraging sign. We’ll start there as we recap this week’s key casino headlines.
Nevada Casinos Rack Up $1.07 Billion In January Revenues
Casinos in Nevada just keep on pushing forward in their rebound from the coronavirus. It was just announced by the Nevada Gaming Control Board that the casinos in the state reeled in approximately $1.07 billion from gamblers throughout the month of January. When comparing this number to January of 2021, you would see a large 41.58 percent increase. Back then, casinos brought in $761,919,236.
As expected, the Las Vegas Strip was the largest contributor to these numbers. Casinos that are located in this area brought in $567,213,517 in winnings during the month, which was a sizable 76.41 percent increase compared to their earnings back in January of 2021.
Betting in Nevada could end up launching itself even higher in regards to total revenue numbers with the recent lifting of the mask requirement. January is a solid sign of what’s to come following tumultuous 2020 and 2021 campaigns.
Federal Legislation Wants To Raise Tax Threshold On Slot Wins
Some policymakers aren’t very fond of a specific tax in regard to casino winnings. A group of federal lawmakers decided to introduce a new bill that would allow the IRS to raise the threshold on all slot machine winnings. As it stands right now, the threshold right now is at $1,200, which is a figure that hasn’t been changed since it was created back in 1977.
Inflation is playing a major part in this new bill and some feel that $1,200 just isn’t what it used to be. They’re aiming to bump the threshold to $5,000 if inflation is taken into account. Because it hasn’t been to date, the number of jackpots that have hit are causing excessive paperwork for the patron and sometimes even shutting down the machine. These are all things that Representative Dina Titus had to say in regards to the new bill coming around.
When a slot machine jackpot reaches the $1,200 tax threshold, Nevada policy calls for the casino to pay the player by hand, so they can collect the player’s tax information. Thus, such jackpots are informally called a hand pay or “handpay”. Thus, the bill would raise the slot machine handpay level to $5,000.
It seems like the bill is already on track to be pushed all the way through the legislation as well. The American Gaming Association is fully backing this and it doesn’t currently seem like anything is standing in the way.
Las Vegas Cop Accused Of Threatening To Murder Employees Of Casino
One Las Vegas cop is in some hot water after being accused of threatening to murder employees of a casino while he was robbing the establishment. Caleb Rodgers is the man in question here. He is an officer with the LMPD and was charged with armed robbery not too long ago and is the man authorities believe committed some unsolved robberies back in January and again in November.
The accusation says that he was using his department-issued weapon to threaten murder upon the employees if they wouldn’t give him the money that he was demanding. Rodgers allegedly made off with $74,000 when he was robbing the Red Rock. He got an additional $11,500 from a robbery at the Aliante. He was able to steal approximately $200,000 for a string of robberies.
As Rodgers was attempting to rob the Rio Hotel and Casino, he was chased outside and got tackled by a security guard right when he pulled a weapon out of his waistband. He is set to appear in federal court this week.