New to the world of sports betting? Among your many questions, you may wonder if you have to pay taxes on sports betting. Guess what? We’ve got all your questions about taxes and sports betting answered below. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for here, just ask our TaxGlobal community!

First, a tip: write down EVERYTHING

The best thing you can do in sports betting (other than bet on a winning team, of course) is keep records of literally everything. For each transaction, write down the date, wager amount, and wins or losses.

How much are sports betting taxes?

All your sports betting winnings are taxable. In fact, on your return, they’re simply considered income. That means that if you’ve won money from your sports betting, you may pay anywhere from 10-37%, depending on your income tax bracket.

Of course, if you’ve lost money, you won’t owe anything in taxes. But you might be able to deduct your losses if you take the itemized deduction option. Just know that you can’t deduct more than the amount of your winnings.

How do I report sports betting on my taxes?

If you’ve won $600 or more, the platform or organization through which you did the betting should send you a Form W-2G. If you win $5000 or more, the organization may withhold up to 24% for your federal income tax. In that case, those numbers will show up in Box 4 of your W-2G.

When filing your taxes, report your winnings as gambling income using Schedule 1 of Form 1040. You can report any losses on Schedule A of the same form.

Can I just lump all my winnings together? Do I have to claim them individually?

It would make things a lot easier, but unfortunately, you can’t lump all your bets together, even if they all happened during a certain time period. Instead, you’ll have to individually report each wagering transaction.

You also can’t just subtract your losses from your winnings and report the final amount. Again, this would probably make things a lot easier, but unfortunately, it’s just not allowed. 

If you’re not a professional gambler, you’re required to report your full amount of winnings as income, and claim your losses (up to the amount of winnings) separately.

You can only claim losses as an itemized deduction. If you take the standard deduction, you can’t deduct any of your losses.

Have more questions about sports betting and taxes? Get in touch with our CPA community.