Gambling winnings tax in Connecticut

Connecticut taxes your gross gambling winnings and allows no deduction for losses, so a losing year can still produce a state tax bill.

Checked against Connecticut’s own sources on 2026-09-12.

In short

A large win can push you toward a flat 6.99 percent on all your income, because the Table C and Table D add-backs are keyed to Connecticut AGI.10
If you get Social Security, a win that takes your federal AGI to $75,000 single or separate, or $100,000 joint or head of household, or above, can make up to 25 percent of your benefits taxable.2
Connecticut withholds a flat 6.99 percent. That is the top rate, not necessarily the rate that applies to you.9

How Connecticut treats gambling losses

5, 7, 8, 10

Connecticut does not let a casual gambler offset winnings with losses at all, so how you file federally makes no difference to the state figure.

The two examples below are the same numbers the calculator uses, worked at Connecticut rates.

Two examples, worked at 2026 Connecticut rates

A single filer with $60,000 of other income who takes the standard deduction on everything except gambling losses.

A losing year

You win $50,000 and lose $52,000, so you finish down $2,000.

Federal: $3,596
Connecticut: $3,308
Total: $6,904

You finished the year down and still owe tax.

Federally you itemize, so your losses offset your winnings, but the 2026 rule caps that deduction at 90 percent and leaves $3,200 taxable. Connecticut starts from your federal income and allows no deduction for gambling losses, so the full $50,000 is taxed at graduated rates, plus $250 the state adds on top, plus $258 because the win shrinks your personal tax credit, which comes to $3,308.

A winning year

You win $50,000 and lose $10,000, so you finish up $40,000.

Federal: $10,350
Connecticut: $3,308
Total: $13,658

Federally you take the $16,100 standard deduction, which is worth more than itemizing, so your gambling losses do not reduce your federal tax at all. Connecticut starts from your federal income and allows no deduction for gambling losses, so the full $50,000 is taxed at graduated rates, plus $250 the state adds on top, plus $258 because the win shrinks your personal tax credit, which comes to $3,308.

Connecticut income tax rates, 2026

4, 10, 13

Single filer thresholds. Married filing jointly and head of household use different bands. Married filing separately uses the single bands.

Taxable income	Rate
$0 to $10,000	2 percent
$10,000 to $50,000	4.5 percent
$50,000 to $100,000	5.5 percent
$100,000 to $200,000	6 percent
$200,000 to $250,000	6.5 percent
$250,000 to $500,000	6.9 percent
$500,000 and above	6.99 percent

The calculator also applies what this table leaves out: an add-back that removes the benefit of the lowest band, an add-back that takes back the lower bands at higher incomes, a personal credit that takes a share off the tax and shrinks as income rises and a personal exemption that falls as income rises, taken before the table.

Withholding on winnings

Connecticut sets a withholding rate of 6.99 percent for gambling winnings. The payout at which withholding starts could not be confirmed from a primary source, so do not assume anything was withheld on your win.

Withholding is a credit against the bill, not the bill itself. It does not settle what you owe.

The federal 90 percent loss limit in Connecticut

5, 14

From tax year 2026 the federal deduction for gambling losses is cut to 90 percent of what you lost, and never more than what you won. Public Law 119-21 did it, at section 70114(a), by rewriting 26 U.S.C. 165(d).

Connecticut allows no loss deduction at all, so the federal limit changes your federal bill and not your Connecticut bill.

Connecticut follows the federal code as it changes. The paragraph above says what this means for the federal 90 percent limit.

If you do not live in Connecticut

6, 7, 8

A nonresident is taxed only on reportable Connecticut Lottery winnings. Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 12-711(b)(1)(D) makes a wager placed in a Connecticut Lottery Corporation lottery Connecticut source income only when the proceeds must be reported to the IRS, which DRS explains as $600 or more and at least 300 times the wager. Winnings from any other wager, including a wager placed at a casino inside Connecticut, are not Connecticut source income for a nonresident and are not taxed by Connecticut.

The calculator works the bill for somebody who lives in Connecticut. It does not apportion income between states, so a nonresident return is not what the figure above describes.

More about Connecticut

How a win raises your rate

The Table C and Table D add-backs are keyed to Connecticut AGI, so a large win can push you toward a flat 6.99 percent on all your income.10

Withholding

Connecticut withholds a flat 6.99 percent with no allowance for your exemption. That is the top rate, not necessarily the rate that applies to you.9

The Connecticut Lottery Corporation withholds 6.99 percent from all reportable Connecticut Lottery winnings, for residents and nonresidents, whether or not federal tax is withheld. Lottery winnings are reportable when they are $600 or more and at least 300 times the wager. Any other payer withholds 6.99 percent only when the payment is subject to federal withholding, the payer has a Connecticut office or business, and you are a Connecticut resident.9, 8

No deductions, only the exemption

Connecticut has no standard deduction and no itemized deductions of any kind. Only the personal exemption from Table A comes off your Connecticut AGI. The 2025 CT-1040 instructions show this in the Tax Calculation Schedule, on page 19.10

If you get Social Security

Connecticut exempts all your Social Security only while federal AGI is under $75,000 single or separate, or $100,000 joint or head of household. At the line or above, up to 25 percent of your benefits becomes taxable.2

If you gamble professionally

If you are a professional gambler, the federal 90 percent limit changes your federal AGI on Schedule C. Connecticut AGI follows federal AGI, so your Connecticut tax would rise. DRS has published nothing on this, so it is not confirmed.

About this estimate

If you enter your Social Security, the calculator works out the part Connecticut taxes. If you do not, it shows a warning where a win takes your federal AGI across the Social Security line.

Sources

Every figure above traces to a primary source: a statute, an administrative code, a state agency page, or official form instructions.

1. Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-701(a)(20)(B)(xxi) and (xxii), pension and annuity income, and (xxviii) and (xxix), IRA distributions other than Roth in full from 2026, one schedule of shares by federal AGI (checked 2026-10-12)
2. Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-701(a)(20)(B)(x)(III) and (IV), the Social Security modification and its AGI lines. Chapter 229 gives no deduction or credit at 65 or older for 2026 (checked 2026-09-26)
3. 2025 Form CT-1040 instructions, line 41 and the Social Security Benefit Adjustment Worksheet (checked 2026-09-26)
4. Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 12-700(a)(10), rate schedule for taxable years commencing on or after January 1, 2024 (checked 2026-09-12)
5. Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 12-701(a)(8), (16), (19) and (20), Connecticut AGI, Connecticut taxable income and the Internal Revenue Code definition (checked 2026-09-12)
6. Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 12-711(b)(1)(D), nonresident Connecticut source income limited to reportable Connecticut Lottery winnings (checked 2026-09-12)
7. CT DRS IP 2011(27), Connecticut income tax treatment of gambling winnings other than state lottery winnings (checked 2026-09-12)
8. CT DRS IP 2015(23), Connecticut income tax treatment of state lottery winnings received by residents and nonresidents (checked 2026-09-12)
9. CT DRS IP 2026(8), Connecticut tax guide for payers of nonpayroll amounts, gambling and lottery withholding at 6.99 percent (checked 2026-10-03)
10. 2025 Form CT-1040 instructions, Tax Calculation Schedule with Table B initial tax calculation, Table C 2 percent phase-out add-back and Table D tax recapture, rev. 12/25 (checked 2026-09-12)
11. Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-702, personal exemption, and 12-703, credits based on adjusted gross income. Neither amount is indexed and neither schedule has an end date (checked 2026-09-22)
12. 2025 Form CT-1040 instructions, Table A personal exemptions and Table E personal tax credits, rev. 12/25 (checked 2026-09-22)
13. CT DRS 2026 Connecticut state tax developments, no 2026 rate change and no wagering loss guidance (checked 2026-09-12)

The federal rule, for the parts of this page that rest on it

14. Public Law 119-21 section 70114(a), which rewrote 26 U.S.C. 165(d) on wagering losses from tax year 2026 and sets out its text (checked 2026-10-18)

We could not confirm these from an official source: the payout at which withholding starts; whether any city or county tax applies.