US to make billions from online gambling laws

Interesting article.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2211381/billions-web-gambling-laws

US Congressman Jim McDermott has introduced web gambling legislation that would collect billions of dollars in new revenues.
A recent analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates the revenues at between $8.7bn and $42.8bn over 10 years.

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Also see the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Iniative website.

Earth to the US Government, are you there?!

I don't know about this, I like it the way it is now. I am just tired of paying taxes on every single thing that comes along. I am also sure this tax will not be very cheap.

You like the fact that we jump throw hoops to get money into (or god-forbid out of) any online poker site. I'd rather pay taxes on winnings (I already do) and feel secure in the knowledge that my $$ won't be confiscated. I say legislate away.

Well I respect your opinion. But I think it is just another cookie jar for the government to get it's hand caught in.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they'll screw it up somehow, but unless they actually ban playing online, taxing winnings has to be better than now. I wonder if PT3 will adjust your BB/100 based on your estimated tax liability?

Government collected over 7 million in taxes, 32.9% from final table in wsop. They have no choice but to tax online. Poker players would double over night if they did as it would then be classified as employment.

They already do tax online. Would this be an additional tax or just regulations to make sure people did pay taxes on their winnings that they technically should already be paying?

All I know is that I am retired collecting a pension and disability from social security. Raises in that are few and far between, I have put two kids in college, and voted for all the school levies. I feel that I've paid my fair share already, and don't need the government involved in my leisurely entertainment.

jbyers said:

All I know is that I am retired collecting a pension and disability from social security. Raises in that are few and far between, I have put two kids in college, and voted for all the school levies. I feel that I've paid my fair share already, and don't need the government involved in my leisurely entertainment.

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If it's entertainment, they don't tax it. If you win money, they tax it. It's income, and if there's going to be an income tax (that's another debate for another time) why shouldn't poker income be taxed?

zachvac said:

They already do tax online. Would this be an additional tax

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According to the article, no. There would be an additional license fee paid by the site to be allowed to accept US gamblers.

zachvac said:

or just regulations to make sure people did pay taxes on their winnings that they technically should already be paying?

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Online sites would be required to give you an anual statement (win or lose.... much like a 1099-MISC I'm sure)... and since there would be a paper trail you better claim it!

easier access = more fish

no brainer we should all be supporting this
good players already find a way to play

I really hope they wouldn't send 1 to losers. You can't claim gambling loses (except to offset gains) and no need to give these people hard evidence that they're throwing they're $$ away.

WVHillbilly said:

I really hope they wouldn't send 1 to losers. You can't claim gambling loses (except to offset gains) and no need to give these people hard evidence that they're throwing they're $$ away.

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Hmmm...if I 'donk' away $$$$ on PStars for the year, but win $$$$ on UB during the same year..... PStar better @#$%^ well send me my '1099-MISC-LOSER' form

Im all for the bill

Can you even imagine how much paperwork that is gonna create? I think they ought to save some trees, and drop the whole thing.

very interesting,,, im for some sort of bill to help us USA players and maybe we can start going back to the sites that banned USA players, etc. Titan,, CDpoker, Noblepoker,,,, buck
ill take anything.lol

another reason why i am glad i live in canada.

jbyers said:

I don't know about this, I like it the way it is now. I am just tired of paying taxes on every single thing that comes along. I am also sure this tax will not be very cheap.

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I'm with you. When the goverment starts regulating things, I hide my wallet.

This is what I have been waiting for, its only a matter of time, money talks and bull S..t walks. Have the Nevada gaming commission run it and were good to go.

"To be clear, these are not mostly new taxes: the bulk of the revenues generated would come from taxes required under existing law," said McDermott.
"This is simply a framework to collect taxes on existing activity that is currently unregulated, unsupervised and underground.
"Before us is a tremendous opportunity to protect consumers and recoup billions of dollars that should be collected by the Internal Revenue Service."

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Sounds good to me. We're required to declare and pay taxes on our online winnings anyway. I'm all for opening the floodgates of new players, and having some government supervision of the gaming sites.

These are revenues that are desperately needed, given that we are at war and face difficulty financing the nation's priorities.

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That's very ironic.

Says there will be a charge on internet gambling sites that can not be passed on to the gambler. 2%

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Show me a tax that the end user doesn't pay. You can't, it doesn't exist. You might say such and such a tax is not passed down. PLEEEEASE!, it is a cost of business, and all costs are passed down.

If similar to present gambling tax laws in U.S. Your win loss statement is decided as per year. My wife and myself in the past accumulated over 30k one year from W2's issued from slot machine winnings. After receiving all my win lose statements from the different casinos we played at, it showed that with my professional assorted table play, (baccarat, blackjack, Craps) I actually lost over 45k. Making us a negative 15k. Although we weren't allowed to claim the additional loses, we didn't have to pay any taxes on the winnings. In addition I can't say for sure if this is the law, but my accountant does my returns and I would assume this is correct. By the way not one year did I ever have to pay taxes from W-2 winnings. These facts are why I became a poker player around the year "2000"

When at casinos now my wife of course can do what she wants at the slots, and if I take a break from the poker tables, I always draw my limits with lady luck at the tables to a grand. Should I win over 10k at the tables, or poker I never cash out more then 9k at a time. If you cash out 10k or more regardless even if you already lost 8k you still would have to fill a form out. Not sure if its a W-2 you fill out or not, cause I never would cash out over 9k to find out. This slick move by the way only came into play maybe 3 times in the years I spent in casinos.

When we consider regulation in the U.S. with online gaming, you would have to agree with when weighing the benefits of safety to tax dollars from winnings, (which by the way is a good problem to have) I for sure am all for it. Knowing if you struck gold and hit for a few hundred grand, you for sure would get paid and have legal jurisdiction if there was a problem is certainly comforting to me. Plus the ease of moving money around again to online sites would be a pleasure.

If the tax laws were similar in the form of not being an issue till you won over 10k at the tables, and if you played slots with that $1200.00 winning limit before it's recorded, I would assume that for the majority of online players, tax laws wouldn't really be an issue. Only problem I do see is every penny would accurately be recorded, so the slick less then 10k cash out wouldn't work. Still when having to pay taxes in most cases will usually mean a good thing.

SavagePenguin said:

Sounds good to me. We're required to declare and pay taxes on our online winnings anyway. I'm all for opening the floodgates of new players, and having some government supervision of the gaming sites.

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See: SOME GOVERNMENT SUPERVISION OF THE GAMING SITES. As opposed to Judge Roy Bean presiding over everything in a poker site's jurisdiction and the poker site being able to thumb its nose at you whenever it feels like it. Many online sites would be better behaved if they faced consequences from the U.S. government for screwing players.

I wonder if about 75% of the smaller offshore sites would close once this legislation got proclaimed.

The way I read the bill. Most of the taxing is to the poker site. I feel for the added security it would be wel worth it. I hope you all are lucky to win enough money to need to pay a tax. Better than losing.