Tax ? - Setting up an S Corp

[Lebronomania]

Do you own The Tax Guide for Gamblers? If so, is it worth picking up? From what I know of the tax law, figuring out income as a professional gambler isnt much different than for a professional anything else.

[astroglide]

yes i own it, and i'd say it's worth it for any player who intends to file their taxes to pick up

[Rugbyrat]

I'm not sure that playing poker is illegal in every state. PA used to have laws which punished "habitual gamblers", but those laws no longer exist.

I believe that PA law does not make gambling illegal. It does, however, appear to make setting up gambling houses illegal.

[elwoodblues]

It isn't a question of whether gambling is illegal. It is a question of whether on-line gambling is illegal. I would guess (again, it's just a guess) that gambling in a raked game not sanctioned by the state would be illegal in most (if not all) states.

[El Barto]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you own The Tax Guide for Gamblers? If so, is it worth picking up? From what I know of the tax law, figuring out income as a professional gambler isnt much different than for a professional anything else.

[/ QUOTE ]
Is this book available from Conjelco?

[sin808]

A few days ago I had posted a tax related topic as well...after having spent about 2 hours digging around the IRS website for info.
According to their site (and this data was from 2002 I believe), some form of gambling is legal in all but 3 states. HI, TN and UT I think they were. Someone also mentioned that TN had a lottery now, so that would take them off the list.
Kurn posted up this link to state gambling laws..
http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/

[El Barto]

From the state summary, the following states have an "express internet prohibition" in their gambling laws:
Ill.
La.
Nev.
Ore.
S.D.
Wis.
and N.J. has a bill pending.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
From the state summary, the following states have an "express internet prohibition" in their gambling laws:
Ill.
La.
Nev.
Ore.
S.D.
Wis.
and N.J. has a bill pending.

[/ QUOTE ]
While other states do not explicitly call out online gambling as illegal, that doesn't mean that it is legal. In addition, states such as Colorado have clauses such as:

18-10-106
Whoever knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore, or other means or knowingly installs or maintains equipment for the transmission or receipt of gambling information commits a class 3 misdemeanor. If the offender is a repeating gambling offender, it is a class 6 felony.

[CORed]

Wow. I knew the Colorado AG has said that internet gambling is illegal in Colorado, but I had never seen that specific statute. If one were to interpret that broadly, reading or posting to twoplustwo could be illegal, but I think 1st ammendment considrations would probably trump that broad an interpretation. It also means I'll have to rethink my "poker by semaphore" business plan.

[fnurt]

[ QUOTE ]
In addition, states such as Colorado have clauses such as:

18-10-106
Whoever knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore, or other means or knowingly installs or maintains equipment for the transmission or receipt of gambling information commits a class 3 misdemeanor. If the offender is a repeating gambling offender, it is a class 6 felony.

[/ QUOTE ]

Colorado law provides:

"Gambling information" means a communication with respect to any wager made in the course of, and any information intended to be used for, professional gambling. In the application of this definition the following shall be presumed to be intended for use in professional gambling: Information as to wagers, betting odds, or changes in betting odds. Legitimate news reporting of an event for public dissemination is not gambling information within the meaning of this article.

That sounds pretty harsh. As the poster above said, it sounds like posting to 2+2 might violate Colorado law, because you're providing information to be used in professional gambling. However, the definition of professional gambling is not quite what I expected to find:

"Professional gambling" means:

(a) Aiding or inducing another to engage in gambling, with the intent to derive a profit therefrom; or

(b) Participating in gambling and having, other than by virtue of skill or luck, a lesser chance of losing or a greater chance of winning than one or more of the other participants.

This language needs a little parsing. (a) seems to include, for example, staking a poker player. It also probably includes sharing your Party affiliate code, since you intend to "derive a profit" from getting people to sign up at Party. It wouldn't include most poker advice posted at 2+2, however, since there's no profit in it for the poster.

(b) took me a minute to figure out. It says gambling where you make money "other than by skill or luck." Well what does that leave? Cheating? Maybe, but it also includes, among other things, the house. So "professional gambling," as this one state defines it, does not include someone who makes money by playing poker well, even if they make a million dollars. But if they are involved in financing other gamblers, or in making money off the gambling profits of others, then they probably have a problem.

None of this is probably interesting at all unless you're in Colorado, and maybe even then. But I thought it illustrates the definitional perils involved in trying to figure out what is legal, and what is not, in a given state. And when you're running an online enterprise you probably have all 50 states to worry about...