David,
Thanks for your prompt reply.
As you know, and as I indicated in my post, your solution (and apparently the only one available) creates one problem - the gambler does not directly input the 1099-Misc information into Turbotax, and thus potentially flags the IRS that he has not reported all of his income. Even though the gambler accounted for this income in the less common income section where he can offset the income with his losses, the IRS has now been alerted and will probably come looking for him. Never a pleasant event.
Interestingly, Microsoft Copilot, when presented with this problem, suggests that the gambler also report the 1099-Misc directly (along with the solution you documented) but use negative values for the income in the 1099-Misc form. This does prevent double reporting of the income and allows the gambler to offset his winnings with his losses. However, negative income may also be an IRS flag.
No ideal solution to this problem that plagues millions of gamblers.
