Under the program created by state legislation, Massachusetts’ three gaming licensees, partnering with the commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, check a database to determine if a jackpot winner owes back taxes to the state or child support to a former spouse.

Whenever someone wins a jackpot of more than $1,200 in slots or a table jackpot of $5,000 or that pays out at 300-to-1 odds, that person’s name and Social Security number has to be run through the Department of Revenue to see if they owe any back taxes or back child support.

No Nevada law just yet
Nevada hasn’t approved such a law yet, but it’s not for lack of trying. State lawmakers tried to develop one with legislation debated in March 2021. Proponents of Assembly Bill 406 passed a section of the bill supporting the concept of intercepting jackpots to pay delinquent child support, but the details of how that would be done were left for consideration in the next legislative session in 2023.

Intercepting jackpots
Last year, Encore Boston Harbor, operated by Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts Ltd., intercepted $2.2 million, Penn National Gaming’s Plainridge Park Casino captured $921,595 and MGM Resorts International’s MGM Springfield diverted $633,937 as part of Massachusetts’ jackpot interception program.

Bruce Band, deputy director of the Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, said 2021 was a record year for intercepting back tax and child support funds.

Are gamblers surprised when they find out they’re not going to collect the amount they thought they’d won? “I think some of them are, some to the extent that they try to switch the jackpot to somebody else,” Band said. “It’s become more common knowledge now in casinos.”

By Under the program created by state legislation, Massachusetts’ three gaming licensees, partnering with the commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, check a database to determine if a jackpot winner owes back taxes to the state or child support to a former spouse.

Whenever someone wins a jackpot of more than $1,200 in slots or a table jackpot of $5,000 or that pays out at 300-to-1 odds, that person’s name and Social Security number has to be run through the Department of Revenue to see if they owe any back taxes or back child support.

No Nevada law just yet
Nevada hasn’t approved such a law yet, but it’s not for lack of trying. State lawmakers tried to develop one with legislation debated in March 2021. Proponents of Assembly Bill 406 passed a section of the bill supporting the concept of intercepting jackpots to pay delinquent child support, but the details of how that would be done were left for consideration in the next legislative session in 2023.

Intercepting jackpots
Last year, Encore Boston Harbor, operated by Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts Ltd., intercepted $2.2 million, Penn National Gaming’s Plainridge Park Casino captured $921,595 and MGM Resorts International’s MGM Springfield diverted $633,937 as part of Massachusetts’ jackpot interception program.

Bruce Band, deputy director of the Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, said 2021 was a record year for intercepting back tax and child support funds.
Are gamblers surprised when they find out they’re not going to collect the amount they thought they’d won? “I think some of them are, some to the extent that they try to switch the jackpot to somebody else,” Band said. “It’s become more common knowledge now in casinos.”

By Richard Velotta