SlipperyPencil wrote:Yes you can enter a summary. There's no need to attach the transcript.
Agreed. Usually there aren't federal taxes withheld on a W-2G so they need not be individually entered. Document matching treats them more like a 1099-NEC than a W-2.
BerkshireCPA wrote:Seeing these repeated losses opens your eyes to how big of a problem gambling addiction can be.
Yep. I once had a client who, following her husband unexpectedly dying, became addicted to slot machines and blew through their sizeable retirement account in a few years. It was painful doing her tax returns, especially because she refused to keep good records.
If a client keeps records of their gambling by session it can help offset the bite. For example, if they enter the casino with $500 in gambling money, but leave with $1,300 and a W-2G reporting $2,000 in winnings, only their net session gain of $800 is included in AGI. But casual gamblers almost never keep track like that so there's usually no basis for reporting anything other than the $2,000. And an addict is much less likely to track it.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen a casino yet that provides a usable gain/loss summary for session tax reporting purposes. Partly because they can't technically know when a session begins or ends, but it shouldn't be insurmountable to program that.