Question

Lottery ticket deductions

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
April 1, 2025
1 reply
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Hello. I am using lottery ticket losses to offset some casino W-2G winnings. I know that if I bought a $20 lottery ticket and I didn’t win anything, that is a $20 loss. My question is how do I do lottery tickets where I bought the ticket for $20 and I won $5? Do I have to just do it as a $15 loss? Or is it $5 in the win column and $15 loss in the loss column, $5 win and $20 loss, or something else all together?

SusanY1

You cannot directly offset casino winnings with lottery ticket losses. You report the income separately from the total of the losses, which are itemized deductions.

So using your example the $5 win is income and the $15 loss goes toward the losses that you may be able to deduct if itemizing.

You can learn more about this topic HERE.

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