Are sports book writers and runners tips tax deductible in 2026?
Yes — sports book writers and runners are on the IRS tipped occupation list (code 204). Tips in this job are deductible for 2026, up to $25,000, if the customer chose the amount and could have declined.
Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 204 · Entertainment and events · official title: Gambling and Sports Book Writers and Runners
How tipping works in this job
Tipping here follows the payout. A player collecting on a long-odds ticket will frequently hand back a percentage, and keno and bingo runners working a room are tipped in small amounts across a whole shift. It is highly variable work: a big race day can produce more tips than the preceding fortnight.
The regulations say: Post information enabling patrons to wager on various races and sporting events. Assist in the operation of games such as keno and bingo. May operate random number-generating equipment and announce the numbers for patrons. Receive, verify, and record patrons’ wagers. Scan and process winning tickets presented by patrons and pay out winnings for those wagers. Examples given: Betting runner, bingo worker, keno runner, race book writer.
The thing most likely to disqualify your tips
Ticket-writing fees and bingo card charges are prices, not tips. If your book charges for a parlay card or your hall sells bingo packs, none of that is a customer-chosen gratuity, however much of it the house routes to staff.
Check your own numbers
Pre-filled for sports book writers and runners. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Step 1 — your occupation
Checking for Sports book writers and runners (Treasury code 204). This occupation is on the list.
Step 2 — is it actually a tip?
Answer for the money you are asking about. If some of your income is tips and some is service charges, run them separately.
Step 3 — your tips and income
The phase-out runs on modified AGI, which for most people is the same as AGI.
3 questions left to answer.
OBBBA Deductions · obbbadeductions.com
Tips deduction worksheet — tax year 2026
The three tests, as answered
- Does the customer decide the amount? not answered
- Can the customer decline to pay it? not answered
- Is it a mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity? not answered
Answer the 3 remaining questions above for a result.
Watch out for this in your job: Ticket-writing fees and bingo card charges are prices, not tips. If your book charges for a parlay card or your hall sells bingo packs, none of that is a customer-chosen gratuity, however much of it the house routes to staff.
Educational estimate only, not tax advice. It runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. The deduction is scheduled to expire after tax year 2028.
How this applies to sports book writers and runners
Income in a race and sports book is spikier than in almost any other occupation on the list, because tipping here follows payouts rather than time worked. A quiet Tuesday in July produces nothing. Super Bowl Sunday, the opening days of the college basketball tournament, a heavyweight title fight or a long-priced Derby winner will produce more in one shift than the preceding fortnight. Any attempt to project a year from a sample of ordinary weeks will understate it badly.
Ticket writers and runners see different halves of that. A writer at the counter is tipped by winners collecting, usually as a percentage of a ticket that came in at long odds, and the psychology is generous — the money feels like found money to the person handing it over. Keno and bingo runners work a room instead, collecting small amounts continuously from players who are settled in for hours. The runner’s total is built out of dollars; the writer’s out of occasional larger gestures.
One structural change worth factoring in: mobile and app-based wagering has drawn a large share of volume away from the counter. Books that once had queues now handle far fewer walk-up tickets, and in-person tipping has fallen with the footfall. If you are estimating this year from a pre-app year, the older figure is likely to be too high rather than too low.
Nothing the book charges is a tip. Parlay card prices, bingo pack sales, entry fees for in-house contests and the vig built into the line are all revenue. Where a property runs a contest with an entry fee and pays staff from it, that money arrives as wages.
The three tests, whatever your job
Paid voluntarily
The customer sets the amount and can decline to pay it.
Paid in cash or a cash equivalent
Card payments and mobile payments count.
Received directly or through a tip pool
Both routes qualify.
Questions
- Are sports book writers and runners on the IRS tipped occupation list?
- Yes. Gambling and Sports Book Writers and Runners is Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 204, in the entertainment and events category. The regulations describe it as: Post information enabling patrons to wager on various races and sporting events. Assist in the operation of games such as keno and bingo. May operate random number-generating equipment and announce the numbers for patrons. Receive, verify, and record patrons’ wagers. Scan and process winning tickets presented by patrons and pay out winnings for those wagers.
- What is the most common reason sports book writers and runners lose the deduction?
- Ticket-writing fees and bingo card charges are prices, not tips. If your book charges for a parlay card or your hall sells bingo packs, none of that is a customer-chosen gratuity, however much of it the house routes to staff.
- How much of my tips can I deduct?
- Up to $25,000 per return, whatever your filing status. The cap applies first, then the amount is reduced by $100 for every $1,000 of modified adjusted gross income above the threshold for your filing status.
- Does a mandatory service charge count as a tip?
- No. A mandatory service charge or automatic gratuity is not a qualifying tip, and the final regulations confirmed this explicitly. It does not qualify even when the customer cannot decline it — a qualifying tip has to be an amount the customer chose to give.
Related occupations in entertainment and events
Occupation data transcribed from T.D. 10044 — final regulations on occupations that customarily and regularly received tips, Treas. Reg. § 1.224-1(h) table 1, last verified 2026-09-08. Read the regulations.