Lottery ticket deductions

[lobosmith]

Hello. I am using lottery ticket losses to offset some casino W-2G winnings. I know that if I bought a $20 lottery ticket and I didn’t win anything, that is a $20 loss. My question is how do I do lottery tickets where I bought the ticket for $20 and I won $5? Do I have to just do it as a $15 loss? Or is it $5 in the win column and $15 loss in the loss column, $5 win and $20 loss, or something else all together?

[SusanY1]

You cannot directly offset casino winnings with lottery ticket losses.  You report the income separately from the total of the losses, which are itemized deductions. 

So using your example the $5 win is income and the $15 loss goes toward the losses that you may be able to deduct if itemizing.  

You can learn more about this topic HERE.