American Gaming Association (AGA) President and Chief Executive Geoff Freeman testified at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) hearing on lowering the threshold for tax-reportable winnings from slot machines and using player loyalty cards for tax reporting purposes.

Aside from AGA and gamblers, a handful of casino executives, industry officials and tribal representatives delivered the same message.

Freeman said that the proposal to mandate electronic player tracking would pose significant challenges, since marketing tools are not equipped to serve this purpose and customers are uncomfortable with the proposed approach if they thought they were being turned into tax collection devices.

“While we recognize the IRS’ concerns and objectives, we question the need to impose mandatory, across-the-board use of the player-tracking tool for tax reporting purposes,” said Freeman. “Rather than mandating across-the-board use for tax reporting, we believe a more targeted approach is possible for achieving the IRS’ objective.”