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How NC lottery ticket swappers avoid taxes, scrutinyNews Story
Reselling winning lottery tickets known as ticket discounting can be profitable for both parties. Buyers claim prizes and sellers go undetected by the government. Some sellers owe back taxes or child support, money automatically withheld from lottery winnings. Others may simply want to remain anonymous. Here's a look at how the practice works: In Florida, a man told investigators that he teamed up with several retailers who bought tickets from customers. He cashed the tickets, clearing
Oct 1, 2016, 9:36 am - Lottery News

Lottery-winning couple 'defrauded' by tax businessNews Story
Includes video report A husband and wife who won big off a 2014 Illinois Lottery scratch-off say they don't want what happened to them to happen to anyone else. Rafael Borsas says he and his wife, who make less than $80,000 a year, went to a nearby Key Express Tax service to have their taxes prepared for them. Instead of being charged $160 for a 1040 single family house owners service, they were overcharged nearly $2,000: $300 for income tax and $1,700 for a gambling bonus. The commissi
Sep 6, 2016, 11:44 am - Lottery News

Pennsylvania lottery winners now subject to state tax on prizesNews Story
By Todd Northrop The small number of states that don't tax lottery prizes has just shrunk by one state. Pennsylvania lawmakers approved levying new taxes Wednesday on a variety of different things including lottery prizes to help support the $31.5 billion state budget that went into effect earlier this week. The tax bill was approved by a 116-75 vote in the House and 28-22 vote in the Senate. Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf quickly signed the tax bill and related bills to complete the budget pro
Jul 20, 2016, 10:43 am - Lottery News

N.J. increases initial state tax withholding on lottery winningsNews Story
But does not affect what winner would ultimately pay in state taxes If someone buys a winning ticket for Friday's $540 million Mega Millions game in New Jersey, the state will be collecting more money at payout than it would have last month. Under the new rates, winnings greater than $10,000 up to $500,000 will have 5 percent automatically withheld, and prizes above $500,000 will face an 8 percent withholding. Previously, prizes greater than $10,000 faced a withholding of 3 percent. The
Jul 7, 2016, 8:53 pm - Lottery News

Pennsylvania lottery wins to be taxed, if legislation passesNews Story
Winning the Pennsylvania Lottery may be a little less lucrative in a proposal that would allow the state to take a share of the jackpot through income tax. Currently, such winnings are exempt from the state's personal income tax. What does that mean in practice? Let's use January's $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot as an example. For those who opted for the hypothetical lump sum the final $1.6 billion take was split between three winners of about $940 million, the feds would withhold a com
Mar 15, 2016, 4:02 pm - Lottery News

Alabama Gov. compares lottery to leisure suitsNews Story
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley took his campaign for tax increases and budget reform to the Bessemer Chamber of Commerce today, where he was asked about whether he's concerned that Alabamians buy lottery tickets in other states. Bentley indicated an Alabama lottery would not be the budget booster that some people think. Now listen folks, the lottery is like leisure suits, the governor said. We're about 30 years behind. Three neighboring states, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, already hav
Aug 2, 2015, 11:37 am - Lottery News

Pennsylvania lottery winners to be taxed for the first timeNews Story
New Penn. Gov. Tom Wolf proposes historic tax increases By Todd Northrop Tucked into the depths of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf's first budget plan is a proposal to tax lottery winnings over $600. The newly-elected Democrat Governor's spokesman says that California and Pennsylvania are the only states with income taxes that exempt lottery proceeds. Some states have no income taxes, and those states also do not tax lottery winners. We have a massive budget deficit that we need to c
May 12, 2015, 10:55 am - Lottery News

A state lottery could help Alabama get its financial house in orderNews Story
Fifty years ago, lotteries were illegal in every state, but they have proven so lucrative and politically irresistible that 44 states have since started selling tickets to the lottery. In 2013, state-run lotteries brought in $62 billion, which amounts to $257 in sales to every adult in the nation. Six stubborn holdouts remain. Alaska and Hawaii are isolated enough that they do not feel pressured by sales from their neighbors. Nevada and Mississippi have gambling lobbies that don't want a stat
Apr 20, 2015, 9:15 pm - Lottery News

IRS scammed with losing lottery ticketsNews Story
Here's one way to dodge the taxman buy thousands of losing lottery tickets. It's true. Gamblers have concocted a scheme to repurpose the dud ducats to offset their winnings. A winner can go online and get $5,000 worth of losing lottery tickets to cover their $5,000 in gambling winnings. The lottery tickets serve as a sort of security blanket if the auditor comes calling. Ads captured on Craigslist and eBay from Florida to California hawk the tickets so the potential lotto buyer can defraud
Apr 6, 2015, 4:54 pm - Lottery News

Will the Puerto Rico Powerball winner pay Federal tax? Nobody knowsNews Story
For the first time ever, Puerto Rico has a Powerball winner with a whopping $188 million jackpot. And the island is celebrating. The winning ticket holder will get one-third of the $564 million jackpot, the third-largest in Powerball history and the fifth-largest U.S. lottery prize. But one mystery remains will the winner pay federal taxes on the prize, or will he or she be exempt, as has always been the case there? Lottery officials in Puerto Rico said they still have no answer to that qu
Feb 13, 2015, 7:31 am - Lottery News