Player tracking records are used for back up only, as far as the IRS is concerned. The reg says you must have a hand written record of buy-ins, cashouts, and machine no or table number to be able to deduct it.

The player tracking record will not give you a win loss in most casinos. It will give you coin in and a therorectial loss based on machine odds. If you keep track of win loss, you will see there is a big difference in your loss and the theroretical loss in a large percentage of cases. Casinos are capable of giving you the win loss. Best not to.

The time on the W2G in question should let the guy claim in either year. The IRS does not run on casino time. BTW, the casino person gave him bum information. The 6AM casino day he was refering to is for 6A reporting not W2G reporting. The 6A cutoff is different in various casinos.