Hollywood News Now: Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises fix key casino problem

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Usually when Royal Caribbean makes a change to its casino program, it's taking away something players like.

The company's namesake cruise line has kept its Casino Royale benefits in place for the past few years, but its sister cruise line, Celebrity Cruises, made major benefit cuts. Celebrity Blue Chip players lost guaranteed freeplay, and Sapphire and higher players no longer receive a free classic drink package.

Video: Emergency forces Royal Caribbean ship back to port

Some of those cuts won't take place until next year — the date depends on when you booked and your loyalty-program level — but players are very angry at the changes.

Royal Caribbean has largely offered the same benefits since it returned from the Covid pandemic. For Prime and higher players, these include free drinks in the casino and a free annual cruise.

On each cruise the cruise line also offers Instant Certificates, which give passengers free cruises starting at 800 earned points. The list of free cruises gets better at the 1,200- and 1,500-point levels, with the 2,500-point list being quite expansive and offering options almost 12 months out.

Casino players generally do not like to hear that the program has changed because traditionally that has meant losses to benefits.

That's not unique to Royal Caribbean: Many cruise lines have lowered benefits for their casino programs since cruises in general have been selling well.

The Casino Royale program offers free cruises and drinks once you reach Prime.Image source: Daniel Kline/ComeCruiseWith.com

Royal Caribbean has to report to the IRS

Players earn points toward free cruises and a higher tier status based on their play. Slot-machine players get 1 point for every $5 cycled through a machine while video-poker players earn 1 for every $10 played.

Table games earn points as well but generally at much slower level.

Points are earned per cruise for Instant Certificates and per casino year (April 1-March 31) for tier levels. The amount of money you win or lose doesn't affect the points you earn.

The federal government, however, cares about how much money you win or lose. If you win more than $1,200 on a slot machine or video poker machine, you get a tax form and that win is reported to the IRS.

In theory, all wins count as income and should be reported. Losses, however, can be used to offset wins but not otherwise deducted from your taxes.

Royal Caribbean has now made it easier for players to get records of their play for tax-reporting purposes. (Celebrity Cruises sent out a similar email a few hours after Royal Caribbean did.)

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Royal Caribbean offers better reporting

All casinos offer win/loss statements to players based on play recorded on their loyalty program numbers. Getting those reports, however, has often been cumbersome.

Royal Caribbean sent Casino Royale members an email this morning detailing a big change. (The choice of all caps was the company's.)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: A NEW WAY TO ACCESS YOUR WIN/LOSS STATEMENTS.

We're excited to announce that Club Royale members can now download their win/loss statements for the past 5 years! Statements for 2019-2023 are currently available. Beginning January 31, 2025, 2024 statements will be accessible. and 2019 statements will be removed.

Royal Caribbean shared a link to the new service.

The Celebrity Cruises email was nearly identical with a different link.

(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.)

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The cruise line also made clear that these are not official government forms.

"Please note that this is not an official tax form. To download your win/loss statements, you must log into your Guest Account and agree to our terms & conditions when prompted. For a win/loss statement to generate, you must havepreviously gamed onboard with your SeaPass card," it said in the email.

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