Gambling winnings tax in Georgia

Georgia allows gambling losses only if you itemize on your federal return. Take the standard deduction and it taxes your gross winnings. Whether only 90 percent of your losses count from 2026 is not settled.

Checked against Georgia’s own sources on 2026-09-25.

In short

Georgia follows your federal choice both ways. If you itemize federally, you must itemize for Georgia even when that gives you less. If you take the federal standard deduction, you must take Georgia’s.1, 2
For 2026 you file at 4.99 percent, but withholding for part of the year was at 5.19 percent.4, 3
The 2026 Georgia employer guide names withholding only on lottery winnings of more than $5,000, at 4.99 percent. It names no casino or pari-mutuel withholding rule.3

How Georgia treats gambling losses

Georgia allows the deduction only to filers who itemize on the federal return. Take the federal standard deduction and the offset disappears, so gross winnings are taxed even in a year you finished down.

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

Two examples, worked at 2026 Georgia 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
Georgia: $908
Total: $4,504

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. Georgia allows the loss deduction only to filers who itemize federally, which you do. Your Georgia income, after Georgia's standard deduction or your itemized deductions, whichever your federal return takes, goes from $45,000 without the win to $63,200 with it. The extra $18,200 is taxed at 4.99 percent, which comes to $908.

A winning year

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

Federal: $10,350
Georgia: $2,495
Total: $12,845

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. Georgia allows the loss deduction only to filers who itemize federally, and you do not. Your Georgia income, after Georgia's standard deduction or your itemized deductions, whichever your federal return takes, goes from $45,000 without the win to $95,000 with it. The extra $50,000 is taxed at 4.99 percent, which comes to $2,495.

Georgia income tax rates, 2026

3, 4

Taxable income	Rate
$0 and above	4.99 percent

The calculator also applies what this table leaves out: the federal overall limit on itemized deductions at the top federal bracket, taken before the table.

Withholding on winnings

Georgia withholds 4.99 percent. The rule in the state's sources:

the state lottery: above $5,000.

These sources give no rule for other kinds of bet, so do not assume tax was withheld on one.

The rate fell from 5.19 percent on May 11, 2026, so a prize paid before then may have had 5.19 percent withheld.

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 Georgia

4, 10

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).

No Georgia statute or guidance addresses the federal 90 percent limit for tax year 2026.

Georgia follows the federal code as it stood on 2026-01-01. The paragraph above says what this means for the federal 90 percent limit.

Our estimate assumes the limit applies, which gives the higher tax. The calculator also shows the tax if the limit does not apply. We would rather tell you the number could be lower than let you plan around one that turns out to be too low.

If you do not live in Georgia

A nonresident with Georgia source income files Form 500 with Schedule 3. Georgia itemized deductions are prorated for a part-year resident or nonresident, by the income ratio on Schedule 3 line 9. The booklet works the example: deductions of $15,000 at a ratio of 78.98 percent give $11,847.

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

More about Georgia

Itemizing follows your federal return

Georgia follows your federal choice both ways. If you take the federal standard deduction, you must take the Georgia standard deduction, $15,000 or $30,000 joint from 2026 under House Bill 463. If you itemize federally, you must itemize for Georgia even when that gives you less.1, 2

The 2025 Georgia booklet gives an Eligible Itemizer Tax Credit of up to $300 per taxpayer, which partly makes up for having to follow your federal choice. No 2026 source we read says whether it continues.8

On Form 500 line 12b you remove income taxes paid to states other than Georgia and investment interest on exempt income. Georgia income tax stays in your Georgia deduction. If your federal return capped your state and local taxes, the 2025 instructions remove only a share of the other-state tax, figured with the cap. The 2025 booklet prints that cap as $10,000, and the cap for 2026 is not confirmed.5

The 2026 rate

The 2026 rate cut became law on May 11 and applies to all of 2026. You file at 4.99 percent, but withholding for part of the year was at 5.19 percent.4, 3

Withholding

The 2026 Georgia employer guide names withholding only on lottery winnings, of more than $5,000 at 4.99 percent. It names no casino or pari-mutuel withholding rule.3

The retirement income exclusion

You cannot use the Georgia retirement income exclusion for lottery or gambling income.9

About this estimate

The calculator does not include Form 500 line 12b.

The calculator does not include the Eligible Itemizer Tax Credit.

Sources

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

1. Georgia DOR 2026 legislative summary, House Bill 463: standard deduction of $15,000, or $30,000 joint, from 2026 (checked 2026-09-25)
2. Form IT-511 booklet (2025), line 11: a federal itemizer must itemize for Georgia, and a federal standard-deduction filer must take Georgia’s (checked 2026-09-25)
3. Georgia employer tax guide (2026), rate and lottery withholding. The URL says June 2026, and the file now says revised September 2026 (checked 2026-09-11)
4. Georgia DOR 2026 legislative summary, House Bill 463 rate and House Bill 1199 conformity (checked 2026-09-11)
5. Form IT-511 booklet (2025), Form 500 lines 12a and 12b, and the rule that ties state itemizing to federal itemizing (checked 2026-09-15)
6. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 560-7-4-.01, college savings deduction, itemized deductions allowed under IRC 63(d) and O.C.G.A. 48-7-27(a)(1). Supporting evidence, not the statute itself (checked 2026-09-22)
7. 2025 Form 500 line 12, in the IT-511 booklet: "Total Itemized Deductions used in computing Federal Taxable Income", line 12a from federal Schedule A, which from 2026 is after the federal overall limit on itemized deductions (checked 2026-10-01)
8. Form IT-511 booklet (2025), Georgia Eligible Itemizer Tax Credit (checked 2026-10-06)
9. Form IT-511 booklet (2025), retirement income exclusion, not lottery or gambling income (checked 2026-10-06)

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

10. 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: whether any city or county tax applies.