As someone who’s been the duty manager in a casino where people have won a similar amount to that referred to by the question setter, I’ll tell you exactly what does happen.
This person won’t be a stranger to us. UK casinos don’t function like that. So we’ll know this person. Chances are they’ve lost several million with us over the years. So we won’t be surly. We’ll be professionally happy for the winning player. Handshakes all round. I’ll ask if they fancy having dinner with me in the casino restaurant, or perhaps share a bottle of something suitably lovely.
We want you to come back to us next time. That sentence is the most important factor in the whole process. If you win and there’s people around you being happy for you, then you’re more likely to return. The table staff also want you to tip, or continue tipping. They’ll be very happy for you too.
So after the handshakes and pleasant meal, I’ll sign the cheque made up by the cashier. More likely nowadays is the BACS transfer back to their account. But not all 8 million. Maybe only 5 or 6. The other 2 million they’ll leave on deposit with us. (Always their choice. Never suggested. Never needs to be suggested). I mean, after all, they’re in town for a few more days and may want to play again. We can always BACS that 2 million whenever they ask us to.
Once all the financials are done, I will personally escort Mr/Ms. Big Winner up to one of our waiting chauffeured cars, where they will be taken to wherever they so desire. They may even hold onto our car and driver, in case they fancy popping back our way in the next couple of hours. Of course sir, no problem at all.
And all this time, at every interaction I have with the player, we’ll be discussing how their particular business is doing – did their daughter’s recent wedding go well – how’s their son finding business school – we have some tickets to the sporting / cultural event they’re interested in. All this is in their file.
So that’s what happens. It may sound a little oily and rehearsed, but it’s just business.
There have been a number of comments saying I haven’t answered the question. I chose to focus on the first part of the question. I’ll deal with the second part now. Here goes . Nothing. Nothing will happen. We’ll put the money on deposit for when you return. Leaving immediately means you haven’t cashed out.
UK gambling winnings are not taxable. After the twenty ninth commenter told me I was wrong, I thought I’d put this here instead of replying to every comment. Your country is one of 195. Mine is one of the other ones. Not everywhere is like where you are.
Hold your horses kimosabei.
I relative of mine won a sizable amount at the casino so I know exactly what happens. I’m assuming you leave immediately with money right?
First, we’re assuming you won it at jackpot, otherwise $8m is probably not a lot of money to you. The first thing that happens is the machine starts ringing and after you leap from joy and hugging everyone, you realize that it’s not paying out any quarters. Suddenly you’re greeted by a floor manager and a security staff which politely escort you to a payout accounts room, usually on another floor. The security team lead starts checking the videos and play backs while they do some checks. A nice lady will sit down and start taking down your particulars.
Then the accounts will appear and ask you how’d you like to get paid, they’ll try to convince you to keep it as credit at the casino. A lot of people just ask for cash, but $8M is a lot of cash to be carrying around. The casino doesn’t want you to get robbed so they will try to convince you to take a bank deposit. But the first thing you notice is it isn’t $8M, they’ve taken out almost 40% or so for withholdings taxes. Before you go, they’ll give you a suite and tell you to stay a bit longer for free. They’d of course hoping you continue to gamble and give back all the money.
No at this point, the casino will try to verify 100% that you are the person who has won that money. You weren’t just standing by the machine. If you walk out with the money and your relative know, suddenly people will appear saying they contributed to your win. Your uncle who sent you to the airport said you sat on his lucky seat. The uber driver said he was the one who gave you the tip to pull halfway.
In Nevada, anything under 250k must be paid in ‘cash’ within 24 hours. Period. Or Gaming comes down on them like a ton of bricks, and they will loose their license forever. This is why small casinos set their max payout at about 6,000 or so.
How it works is anything 1200 or more, you need to fill out a W-2 (or in the Salon where most wins are that high they just take your information when you wire your 100k ernest money) before they give you the cash. Yes. Cash. Hundred dollar bills. When I paid out anything in that range, if they said they were leaving, I made absolutely sure they had a safe ride. (If they weren’t a regular.)
That said, the big money machines are actually paid out by the manufacturer within 24 hours. They’re state wide progressive machines run through the maker (and owner’s) network. You do have to wait a bit, and offered a free room, food, booze and so on until the representative gets there. Yup. IGT has representatives within (I think) 4 hours of every machine they run, like MegaBucks and Wheel of Fortune for jackpot payouts. They verify the win, everyone takes pictures with the ‘check’, all the paperwork gets filled out and filed, then they wire the cash to your account.
Not kidding. They wire cash into your bank account. They’re good at it, so your bank doesn’t explode at having millions of dollars landing in a random account, along with all the money laundering paperwork and so on.
But that’s how it works in Nevada. I think you can ask to have anything over 10k wired as well, just to avoid all the money laundering or drug dealing asset forfeiture drama. Up to 10k I think most casinos can wire it for you if you ask, but there may be a fee. That’s about the point where Bens get a little bulky.
Oh, the IRS thing? That’s your problem. Once the casino gets the W2 filled out and submitted, given whatever information you supplied, it’s your problem. If you want to play silly buggers or all-fours with the IRS, go right ahead. The casino does not care. I would not recommend it on any major jackpot. They’re all reported to the IRS with pictures on top of the W-2, as well as the IGT rep, casino owner, the … and so on and so forth. That’s why the up to 24 hour delay. Jackpots in the millions of dollars are very well documented.
