The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced updated regulations that finally reflect the reality of 21st century betting on horse races.
Bettors were required to sign IRS tax forms whenever they collected a wager that paid at odds of 300-1 or greater. For example, if a bettor cashes a $2 trifecta ticket worth $1,200, she’d have to pay over the applicable tax before receiving any of her winnings…regardless of how much money she’d actually invested in the wager. If her tickets contained $100 of various trifecta combinations, she’d nonetheless be subject to the tax, because one of those combinations paid out at odds of 300-1.
Now, she’d have to win $30,000 in order for that tax to kick in, because the new regulations take into account the full amount of the wager, not just the amount of the winning ticket.
“The definition of the amount of the wager has been changed,” explained Jim Mulvihill, director of media and industry relations at the NTRA. “Now, it’s calculated based on all of the money someone puts into one pool, as opposed to the base amount of their wager.”
When the withholding and reporting regulations were established decades ago, bettors had a small menu of options from which to choose: win, place, and show bets; a daily double; maybe exactas and trifectas.
“There will still be signers,” said Mulvihill, using the horseplayers’ term for a ticket that requires IRS reporting, “but there will be 95% fewer of them.”