gg Kentucky, Nice Win Freedom!

Kentucky Governor gets smacked down!

That is all

nice win for Kentucky then, although I like how they say "casinos" rather than poker sites since I bet the majority play poker and not at casinos...it just makes it sound bad when they say casinos

I heard about that on the radio and cheered.

I also posted a comment.

YSY for freedom!

Excellent! One thing I'm not sure I get...

"Rich Muny, Kentucky state director for the Poker Players Alliance, said he hopes Beshear and Brown "will abandon this misguided effort and focus new energies into regulation and taxation of Internet poker.""

Why would the PPA want this? Sure I don't. Or least I think I don't.

Dive:
If internet poker is regulated the sites can legally operate in the US and be taxed as any legal business is taxed.
If taxation on players follows casino and racetrack standards, players would only be taxed on winnings above a certain limit.
I used to make a fair amount of money playing the horses in Maryland and was taxed 20% one time when I hit a triple for $1400. Never paid a dime on my other winnings, although I did keep records just in case.

This is false. In casinos as well as online now you have to pay taxes on every dime you win. The problem is it's hard to enforce. Many people now don't pay taxes on online winnings. Taxing and regulating it would simply ensure that people do pay taxes. I can only hope they don't further tax it other than enforcing existing laws, but I do get nervous about that. But the bottom line is poker's not going to stay as it is now. Either it will be pushed to one side, outlawed, or the other, taxation and regulation. I'll take the latter. Also the regulation will hopefully make fish trust putting their money on a site more.


I used to make a fair amount of money playing the horses in Maryland and was taxed 20% one time when I hit a triple for $1400. Never paid a dime on my other winnings, although I did keep records just in case.[/quote]

Applicable thread: Taxes on poker earnings This was my final response...

"How can the IRS 'get you on it', unless the Feds are hacking your computer? And to do so without just cause would probably be thrown out. Wouldn't you think we'd be hearing about it if anyone got caught and proscecuted for even playing online poker, much less tax evasion? Any stories or accounts welcome from anyone.

Live poker rooms or horse racing are a different story. US regulated and legal. And I believe they ask for ID and send/give you a 1099 or something if you cash out over a certain amount. I thought it was $500 but could be wrong. But I believe this info is reported to the IRS by the casinos/track, so you better report it. But this is why serious pony gamblers will make a lot of small bets on the same horse - better to have 10 wins at $100 each, than a single one for $1000.

But with online poker earnings not being reported to the IRS, I'd think you'd be nuts to just hand it over to them unless you could make a good case for any likelihood of getting caught."

So I believe you are both correct. But Zach, you might be required to report small winnings at poker, horses, etc, but not enforceable - no paper trail. It's different when a casino is reporting your winnings to the IRS. What I don't understand is this...Can't anyone just say that they lost $1000 on the slots, enough to offset your winnings?

Brann6, I suppose it's possible that a $2 bet can rake in $1400, like in a 50-1 trifecta. If not, ya gotta keep those bets small. :-)

I have absolutely nothing against Kentuckians or Kentucky. What I do have a problem with is people like Gov. Steve Beshear and Public Safety Cabinet Michael Brown.
The stench of double standards and hypocrisy coming from these people is overwhelming. Beshear claims online gambling undermines horse racing. That tells you everything you need to know IMO.
Trying to seize the domain names of 141 online "casinos" is just arrogant if you ask me.

He has said they create ways for children to gamble, undermine horse racing by creating untaxed competition, make it easier to launder money and lack protections to ensure that people actually receive their winnings.

Yeah, he has some valid points here but if he were a real man he would just fess up and say he is doing it to protect Kentucky and it's horse racing goldmine. His "moral high ground" stance is just one big pile of poop.

I am glad the ruling went against him and his greedy buddies.

I'm sorry, but this thinking is so messed up that I didn't bother to respond last time. It's still messed up. "Go ahead, cheat on your taxes, you probably won't get caught" seems to be your advice. Well, we live in a society where a citizen's responsibility is to report all their income. The IRS is just there to try to catch cheaters. You don't want to advocate cheating, do you?

The IRS has a pretty long reach when they want to.

This may be old news to some, but I hadn't seen it before. Any chance they'll get their hands on the customer database (names and addresses)?

http://www.gambling911.com/gambling-...og-010709.html

Puleeeez. I've paid plenty of taxes, as do most of us. Don't even get me started on how screwed up our tax system is - but that's a different issue. But I report everything on my 1099(s) - salary, interest, dividends, capital gains. Laws in general are a good thing, but I don't always equate legality with morality. If I go Atlantic City and make $200 on the slots, I'm not going out of my way to to report it to the Feds. And I can live with myself. Not to justify it, but I'm sure I'm in the overwhelming majority on this one.

You might be thinking "what if everyone did that but for higher stakes - like 1000 wins just under the legally reportable limit"? I suppose the law could be exploitable that way, but in reality most peoples losses outweigh the gains, or US casinos and racetracks would not be in business. Perhaps the Feds should make any legal gambling venue require you to submit ID and Soc Sec #, and give you an electronic card that must be used to use a slot machine, buy chips, a horse racing bet, or a lottery ticket. Surely it can be done. But then they'd be killing the cash cows. Not to mention hotel revenues, eateries, income taxes from people they employ, etc. Believe me, the Feds have it all figured out. They don't expect you to report the little stuff. For them, it's just the cost of doing business.

not sure whats being said here...whats up with KY and poker...I just moved to KY and is there new laws on online poker or casinos in KY or what??

I agree that the system is pretty screwed up and poker players get a really bum deal. But I think the more people avoid reporting their income, the more we will have to fight to have any poker at all. It's about the money. If people paid, the government wouldn't need to make it hard on us to continue playing.

I'm sure your sentiments are similar to most people's. However, you need to be careful. One disgruntled ex, employee, or whoever could report you and receive a reward from the IRS. I don't want to see that happen. Make sure no one knows your real name if you're going to publicly admit that you don't pay. The IRS loves to go after the ones that make the biggest stink about their taxes. They do it so send a message to everyone else.

Doesn't the Bodog thing make you nervous? It would me. Even if I didn't do business with Bodog. It could happen to other poker sites, too.

I used to work for the IRS and I've seen how small items of unreported income or faked deductions can have a snowball effect and leave you with a huge tax bill. Again, I don't want that to happen to any of us. So my advice, be careful, keep records, report what you're supposed to report, and stay out of trouble.