Biggest prize anyone every won on Ncl

[Gordandstacey]

I won $250 playing a game of Bingo, and then 15 mins later won the free cruise raffle :) it was a good day :) The free cruise turned into the cruise my dh proposed to me on the following Christmas so it was even better!

[peg013]

DH won a free 7 night Caribbean cruise from a contest run by Norwegian on their FB page back in April 2012. We ended up doing a B2b since we already had a 7 night Caribbean cruise booked for later that year and the following week was one of the cruises he was allowed to pick from. Luckily we had not booked our airfare yet. :D

[tarps14]

For tax purposes, you receive a W2-G for gambling winnings of $1200 or more in a single hit, not a total of $1200 or more on smaller hits. The DH and I got very lucky on one Carnival cruise and we both hit royals within about 30 min of each other on video poker. We were playing .50 max so the payout was $2000 ea. We both received W2-Gs.

[Out to sea!]

What a wonderful post.

You, indeed, won the biggest possible prize of all. :)

And what is even better is you know it!!

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know the dollar amount but if you win a certain amount, a U.S. taxpayer is supposed to get a 1099 to report the winnings.

 

I've heard if you win the free cruise,, it is for the book price of the cruise even though most would never actually be paying the full, undiscounted amount for that same cruise.

 

 

That is my understanding as well. The 1099 would be for the rack rate, not the discounted rate everyone usually pays.

[garycarla]

All casino winnings are reportable on your tax form.

 

Nothing needs to be reported at customs as far as winning. You do have to report if you are carrying more than $10,000 - winning or not.

 

On NCL and 'some' other lines, anything over $1,200 will generate a W-2g (not a 1099) which must be shown on your tax return as income. Same as a land casino.

[NMLady]

All casino winnings are reportable on your tax form.

 

Nothing needs to be reported at customs as far as winning. You do have to report if you are carrying more than $10,000 - winning or not.

 

On NCL and 'some' other lines, anything over $1,200 will generate a W-2g (not a 1099) which must be shown on your tax return as income. Same as a land casino.

 

The $1200 win generating a W-2G is on slot machines. For table games it is figured differently, based on the payout multipliier. Must be at least 300-1 for some table games. Example: At Let It Ride I won $5000 on a straight flush with all three of my five dollar bets out. But the W-2G was only for $2000 on the optional bet since the other three bets had a payout of only 200-1 whereas the optional dollar bet was 2000-1 for a straight flush.

Edited June 7, 2015 by NMLady

[ndabunka]

As with most casinos, most people lose so although there may be a single lady cackling about her hubby's gambling prowess, the majority will lose. I gamble on the ships the same way I gamble in Vegas. Risk only what you can afford to loose and EXPECT to come away with nothing but the fun of having played.

 

If you win $600 playing blackjack, the casino would not know how much you spent to "win" that $600 so there are no W-2Gs in those cases. Heck, you can win $4,000 over the week of the cruise and not get a W2. It really depends on HOW you play. My model is to quit playing around if I make $600/night or loose $300.

 

Remember that losses can be counted AGAINST your gains. Cash $500 as the start of the trip at the cashier and ask for a reciept. There's $500 in gambling "expenses". Gambling expenses can not be claimed as "losses" but the expenses CAN reduce your "GAINS".

 

PS - I am not a tax or cpa and do not play one on TV. This is not intended as advice. This is simly sharing COMMONLY known treatment of costs and proceeds. Your mileage may very and every dime you risk is under your own decision.

Edited June 7, 2015 by ndabunka

[sail7seas]

I thought one had to be a professional gambler in order to deduct their losses to offset winnings. Is that not true?

 

[marazad16]

I won $250 playing a game of Bingo, and then 15 mins later won the free cruise raffle :) it was a good day :) The free cruise turned into the cruise my dh proposed to me on the following Christmas so it was even better!

 

Wonderful! :)

 

last trip between my husband and I, we won a free photo, a free lottery ticket, Bingo @ $259 and then we hit quick hits for $2400.00. :D

[StanandJim]

I thought one had to be a professional gambler in order to deduct their losses to offset winnings. Is that not true?

 

 

It is not true.

 

You have to be a professional gambler in order to use gambling losses to amend your income on a tax return.

 

Deducting verifiable losses from the amounts won in a given year, is a common accounting practice.

 

In simpler terms, if you took in $50k as a professional gambler, but had to feed the slots $20k to do so, you could correctly state your gross income as $30k

 

But if you earned $50k at your job and took home a further $10k as winnings from the Casino, but fed the slots that same $20k to do it, you could truthfully state on your tax return that you had no winnings that year, because you were $10k in the hole.

 

That $10k loss would not be deductible from your income.

Edited June 7, 2015 by StanandJim

[sail7seas]

Thanks for explaining. I appreciate it.

[luv2swimwdolphins]

6k on breakaway. Was issued same tax form I received for handpays on us land casinos. Seamless.

[HowardK]

Has anyone won anything on that $2 lotto game they have? I play a few each cruise.

[Guindalf]

My $1800 for the poker tournament was paid in cash with no tax forms at all.

[sgmamabear]

I once won a pair of flip flops!

[luv2swimwdolphins]

Don't discount the value of flip flops. My 6k went back into various land casinos and another ncl cruise. I bet you still have those flip flops!! Lol

[jamminlion]

First cruise we won a deck of cards and a beach ball at trivia.

 

Second cruise, tear strips from bingo.

 

Third cruise, some tear strips from DOND.

 

Fourth cruise, I won the duty free liquor raffle. (half off your purchase). Funny part was, I just bought the liquor about 15 minutes before the drawing. And I told the crew member, "Ok, that ticket is going to win, right?" I was dead serious. The crew member looked at me like I was crazy, and said, "yes, sure. Of course", and laughed to himself. Well, he didn't shake up the bag of tickets very well, because he DID draw my ticket, and about needed to go change his uniform when it turned out to be me. Ended with 2 litres of Crown Royal for $17.

[NMLady]

My $1800 for the poker tournament was paid in cash with no tax forms at all.

 

Poker is a table game, which as I said, has different rules than slots for generating a W-2G. So I am not surprised that your $1800 did not require tax forms.

[NLH Arizona]

Supposedly, for American citizens, any winnings over $1,000 and Carnival sends out a tax form (1099?). I've never won anything close to that so can't verify.

 

It is actually for winnings $1,200 and over.

[NLH Arizona]

I thought one had to be a professional gambler in order to deduct their losses to offset winnings. Is that not true?

 

No, you don't have to be a professional gambler to deduct your losses, I do it all the time. You can not deduct losses that are more than your winnings. If you didn't win anything, you can not deduct any of your losses.

[mijim]

Like

[NLH Arizona]

But if you earned $50k at your job and took home a further $10k as winnings from the Casino, but fed the slots that same $20k to do it, you could truthfully state on your tax return that you had no winnings that year, because you were $10k in the hole.

 

That $10k loss would not be deductible from your income.[/font][/size]

I'm very confused by what you are saying.

 

If one makes $50,000 as an income from their job, that has nothing to do with their casino winnings. If someone won $10,000 (and all have a 1099), it has to be declared as income on your taxes (and if they don't, the IRS will be after them with penalties) and if it took them $20,000 to win the $10,000, they can certainly deduct the $10,000 off their taxes as losses.

 

The only time one has to declare their winnings is if there is a 1099 involved, if all wins are less than $1,200, even though they add up to $10,000, then there is no need to do anything on their taxes.

Edited June 7, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[callmebetty]

We haven't won much to speak of on NCL, but the last night of our honeymoon 1o years ago we hit 5,000 on a Black and White Double jackpot machine. While we were waiting to collect that we hit another machine for 1283. Since then, I have some medals, some almost fine bottles of bubbly and some Carnival ships on a stick for a fabulous bingo death. And on this past cruise, I won $1 on a pull tab from an Alaskan bar!!!

To shed some light on the deductions (YMMV, but our experience)

DH won 16,000 on a keno machine here on land. He was able to deduct up to 16,000 in gambling losses but we had to itemize our deductions. We were not able to deduct anything for CT state taxes, only federal. You have to be able to back up the losses so if you don't have enough on a win loss statement, save losing scratch off tickets from that year and keep them in a shoe box! I might even say you can ask friends and family for help in collecting said losers ;)

[Hawaiifrank]

I'm very confused by what you are saying.

 

If one makes $50,000 as an income from their job, that has nothing to do with their casino winnings. If someone won $10,000 (and all have a 1099), it has to be declared as income on your taxes (and if they don't, the IRS will be after them with penalties) and if it took them $20,000 to win the $10,000, they can certainly deduct the $10,000 off their taxes as losses.

 

The only time one has to declare their winnings is if there is a 1099 involved, if all wins are less than $1,200, even though they add up to $10,000, then there is no need to do anything on their taxes.

 

I believe "StanandJim" means that the additional $10k not used to offset your winnings in his example, can't be deducted from your earned income. Essentially, the same thing you said.

 

Another point made by someone else about the stated value, i.e. full retail price vs actual cost you would pay--you can adjust the amount on your tax form. My wife won a contest at 7-11 for a hotel stay and inter-island flight. In our case that was from Oahu to The Big Island (Hawaii). The contest sponsors sent us a 1099 claiming that the prize was worth $1500. They used a rack rate of $350/night for the hotel and the full published price for the Hawaiian Airlines flight. I researched it and was able to adjust the value lower by about 40%. No one ever pays rack rate, especially local residents and the same for the flight.

 

As to the ORIGINAL topic of this thread, my SIL won a free NCL cruise at bingo while on her honeymoon cruise. We joined the happy couple on their next cruise, the "free" one. She won $1500 at bingo on that cruise and took our group of 10 to dinner at the Italian specialty restaurant. She's very lucky and very generous.

[ndabunka]

I'm very confused by what you are saying.

 

If one makes $50,000 as an income from their job, that has nothing to do with their casino winnings. If someone won $10,000 (and all have a 1099), it has to be declared as income on your taxes (and if they don't, the IRS will be after them with penalties) and if it took them $20,000 to win the $10,000, they can certainly deduct the $10,000 off their taxes as losses.

 

The only time one has to declare their winnings is if there is a 1099 involved, if all wins are less than $1,200, even though they add up to $10,000, then there is no need to do anything on their taxes.

 

No wonder you are confused. The OP didn't finish the point. YOU (as a non-professional) can't deduct losses in excess of your winnings on your NORMAL income but.... a "professional" gambler actually CAN because that is actually his professions.... I think.

 

Also, it appears that may be contagious as Hawaiifrank did not elaborate on the point regarding reducing your "award" by 40%... How? Just because one can find other print showing the lowered values does not mean that anyone can "CLAIM" the lower values on your federal taxes. wonder if he had to file an appeal or some type of paperwork (IRS form #?) in order to have the opportunity to claim less than the award? Just because someone claimed it and the IRS may not have (yet) come back does not necessarily mean it was OK to do it that way. Hope he hung onto his justification because he could just get a letter from the IRS...on day.

 

Hopefuly he can share with the class how he did it as I would LOVE to claim less than comes in on a W2G for my "amateur" winnings (golf clubs, trips, etc) from 2010 & 20111 (where they added up to RETAIL figures well beyond what one could have paid for them).

Edited June 7, 2015 by ndabunka