Gambling winnings tax in Ohio

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

Checked against Ohio’s own sources on 2026-09-11.

In short

Ohio’s tax has a cliff. Your Ohio tax is $0 at $26,050 of taxable income and $332.03 at $26,051.
If the casino or sportsbook does not withhold, you still owe the tax.3

How Ohio treats gambling losses

Ohio 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 Ohio rates.

Two examples, worked at 2026 Ohio 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
Ohio: $1,382
Total: $4,978

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. Ohio starts from your federal income and allows no deduction for gambling losses, so the full $50,000 is taxed at 2.75 percent, plus $7 because the win shrinks your personal exemption, which comes to $1,382.

A winning year

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

Federal: $10,350
Ohio: $1,382
Total: $11,732

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. Ohio starts from your federal income and allows no deduction for gambling losses, so the full $50,000 is taxed at 2.75 percent, plus $7 because the win shrinks your personal exemption, which comes to $1,382.

Ohio income tax rates, 2026

Taxable income	Rate
$0 to $26,050	0 percent
$26,050 and above	2.75 percent plus $332

The calculator also applies what this table leaves out: the personal exemption, which falls at higher incomes, taken before the table.

Withholding on winnings

Ohio sets a withholding rate of 2.75 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.

Local tax

4, 5

Roughly 642 Ohio municipalities levy an income tax, from 0.50 to 3.00 percent, and R.C. 718.01(B)(4) puts gambling and sports winnings inside the municipal base statewide. Only a professional gambler may net losses. Casinos and sportsbooks must also withhold municipal tax at the venue rate. Many school districts levy a third layer on top.

The federal 90 percent loss limit in Ohio

6, 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).

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

Ohio follows the federal code as it stood on 2026-03-05. The paragraph above says what this means for the federal 90 percent limit.

If you do not live in Ohio

Ohio-sourced winnings include anything received while an Ohio resident, paid by the Ohio lottery commission, paid by a casino located in Ohio, or paid for sports gaming conducted in Ohio. The reciprocity exception for Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia covers wages only and does not shelter winnings.

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

More about Ohio

The tax cliff and the rates

Ohio’s tax has a $332 cliff. Your Ohio tax is $0 at $26,050 of taxable income and $332.03 at $26,051.

Taxable income is your income less the personal exemption: $2,400 a person up to $40,000 of modified AGI, $2,150 to $80,000, $1,900 under $500,000, and none from $500,000. So the cliff sits higher in income by the exemption.7, 9

Ohio law adjusts the $26,050 threshold for inflation each August, but Ohio’s 2025 budget law suspends that for 2025 and 2026. So $26,050 applies for 2026. The rates are not adjusted.1, 8

For 2025 the table is different. It has three bands, a $342.00 cliff at $26,050, and a 3.125 percent top rate above $100,000.1

Ohio’s own 2026 Estimated Income Tax Payment Worksheet, modified May 2026, still prints the 2025 three-band table with a 3.125 percent top rate. The statute controls, not the worksheet.

Withholding

If the casino or sportsbook does not withhold, you still owe the tax.3

Ohio withheld 3.125 percent on casino and sports gaming winnings from September 30, 2025 until the end of 2025. The start date is September 30, not October 1 as many sources say.

About this estimate

The estimate takes off your personal exemption, or two on a joint return, at the amount for your income with and without the win. It leaves out the exemption for each dependent, the $20 exemption credit for income under $30,000 after exemptions, and the joint filing credit. Where they apply, the figure can be higher or lower. A dependent’s exemption moves where the $332 step falls, so near that step the figure can be about $332 too high or too low. The $20 credit can move it by $20 for each exemption.

Sources

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

1. R.C. 5747.02, imposition of tax and the 2025 and 2026 rate tables (checked 2026-09-11)
2. Form IT-1040 booklet (2025), line 1 must equal federal AGI, Schedule of Adjustments (checked 2026-09-11)
3. R.C. 5747.063, withholding on casino and sports gaming winnings (checked 2026-09-11)
4. R.C. 718.01(B)(4), gambling and sports winnings inside the municipal income base (checked 2026-09-11)
5. R.C. 718.031, municipal withholding by casinos and sports gaming proprietors (checked 2026-09-11)
6. R.C. 5701.11, fixed-date conformity to the Internal Revenue Code (checked 2026-09-11)
7. R.C. 5747.025, personal exemption by modified adjusted gross income (checked 2026-10-11)
8. Am. Sub. H.B. 96 (136th G.A.) Section 757.120(A), no inflation adjustment in 2025 or 2026 (checked 2026-10-11)
9. 2025 Ohio IT 1040 booklet, personal exemption amounts by modified AGI (checked 2026-10-11)

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: the payout at which withholding starts.