You can. If you have a large win, you can use all of your gambling losses to offset the taxes on the win. I don’t know why. Looks to me like they are telling us it’s a good thing to go gamble your money away:( Idiots!

He will have to pay taxes on his $8000 prize, but cannot claim the dead lottery tickets on his taxes.

He can write off the costs of lottery tickets purchased in the same year he won the $8k as an itemized deduction on Schedule A of Form 1040. The wins from the lottery tickets are also taxable income, but that income isn’t reported to the IRS by the lottery officials unless it is $600 or more (per win).

You can claim gambling losses if you can prove them for the tax year the winnings occured.

I answer this question alot, as I am a professional gambler and have knowledge from my accountant.

As a casual gambler in the US, you can claim any gambling loss against your wins. So if he lost $4000 on sccratch offs, pick six tickets and at the slots and craps table, we would only claim $4000 in winnings — at about 30% tax rate.

If he loses $10,000 he can write off up to $8,000 on his taxes. You cannot claim a loss larger than your wins.

You do not have to keep all the tickets but it is helpful, the IRS will accept a detailed log of all money played, won, and lost as sufficient.

Casual gambler also cannot claim travel or hotel as an expense against winning, like a professional gambler can.

Hope this helps!

Yes you can write them off but they cannot be more than the total winnings. You must document all tickets used against this and save them (I believe it is seven years) in case of an audit.
Your friend should contact an accountant to do his taxes to ensure that all information and forms are properly filled out. One wrong thing, missing or on the wrong line and it may cost your friend interest and penalties.
Good luck and have your friend use the winnings to pay down hig interest debt and/or loans. Also, save for retirement. That $8K could turn into millions, depending how many years til they reture!