This is something I've debated with my mother for a long time, as she has been a tax preparer for almost 20 years now.
I've often wondered why she told me I couldn't write off losing lottery tickets.... and the answer is below!
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Taxes-101/Can-You-Claim-Gambling-Losses-on-Your-Taxes-/INF14370.html
Basically you need to be able to itemize on a schedule A, and have more of a value there then the standard deduction of a minimum
of $6,200.00
I know for me, if anything it might come out to be a wash. I don't own a home, so I don't pay interest there. If I did, I might have been able
to save myself the $300 worth of taxes I paid on the winnings I had to report (the $2050 worth of Match 6 winnings). So unless you fudge your
taxes, have a crapload of stuff you can write off or save an incredible amount of losing lottery tickets it's really not worth it for the majority of people.
They cap the amount of gambling losses you can claim equal the amount of your reported winnings.
I'm not saying everyone who does this is dishonest, but unless you really have a lot of stuff you can legally write off, and wind up with an amount of
write offs larger then your standard deduction... you cannot write off gambling losses. I don't have enough stuff to write off to be able to do this, and
I'm not going to get "creative" to save $300.
Just a bit of info for those interested! I've been wondering about this for quite some time.