As you mentioned, "for the record", ALL income is supposed to be repoted on your tax return while only certain levels of income need to be reported by the payer on federal form W-2G:

1) $600 dollars or more in gambling winnings and the payout is at least 300 times the amount of the wager (except winnings from bingo, keno and slot machines), or

2) $1,200 or more in gambling winnings from bingo or slot machines, or

3) $1,500 or more in proceeds (the amount of winnings less the amount of the wager) from keno, or

4) Any gambling winnings subject to federal income tax withholdings.

Regardless of the casino's effort to "fix" the matter, now that the story hit the news, there's a pretty good chance the IRS and his state will be looking for it!