THE WORLD'S #1 POKER MANUAL - Card Games

Poker Book, Robin Hood Cheater
The good player can lose to cheaters in certain situations. Two or more professional cheaters, for
example, can gang up on a good player to reduce his edge odds to a losing level. The good player,
however, quickly detects team or gang cheating and either beats it or eliminates it or quits the game (see
Chapter XXXI).
XV
Taxes and Laws (80)
For federal tax purposes, net annual poker winnings must be declared as income.[ 21 ] Poker income can
be listed under the heading of "Other" on Federal Income Tax Form 1040. In most states, net poker gains
can also be declared as income. Gambling losses can be deducted (on Schedule A) from poker income,
but net gambling losses cannot be deducted from taxable income.
Poker players' winnings are not subject to the federal excise taxes on gambling.[ 22 ] Apparently the
federal government does not classify poker players as gamblers (even though poker income is treated as
gambling gains by the IRS).
A survey by the author (summarized in Table 23) shows that poker games are technically illegal in most
states. Nevertheless, few if any states apply their anti-gambling laws to private poker games. But house
games (in which pots are cut or raked for a profit or during which players pay collection fees) are
vulnerable to legal action in most states.
Table 23 gives information about the legal and tax status of poker in each state.
TABLE 23
STATE LAWS ABOUT POKER
* Opinion for private poker games (for guideline use only).
State--
Is Poker
Legal? *
Alabama
No
Source of Information--
Legal Reference
NAACP of Montgomery,
Alabama--
Alabama State Statutes
http://www.neo-tech.com/poker/part3d.html (4 of 11)9/17/2004 12:22:30 PM
State
Income Tax
1980
Yes