Amanda Gades asks....
There are some popular youtube channels out there that feature
high limit play with groups of people that contribute an equal amount of money
per player and a fixed number of spins that each participant gets to do on a
single machine. One particular youtuber states on his website that
his players card will be used for all spins and he agrees to cover taxes
for any wins under $5,000 total. Over and above that amount, 35% will be held
back for taxes. I got that verbatim. My understanding is that the
player actually doing the spins is the person who receives the W2-G on a hand
pay. Which occur regularly. Here's a scenario that illustrates my question.
Everyone in the group contributes $200 each. On one of my spins, I
get a $4000 hand pay and a W2-G. Can the youtuber who agreed to cover the taxes
voluntarily put his name on the W2-G even though it won on my spin?
Going even further, say at the end of the session,
everyone gets $500 for a $300 profit. However, the IRS has it down as a $4000
win for whoever is on the W2-G and no one else in the group is even known to
the IRS. It seems unfair for the person who got the big $4000 win, even
though it was "really" only $300.
