Super Bowl Wins are Taxable
Super Bowl Sunday is not only a big day for football and parties, but it is an
even bigger day for sports betting. This year’s Super Bowl was estimated to have
had at least $8 billion bet on the game all over the world. In the United States
about one percent of the gambling done in Nevada would be considered legal
betting. The rest of the gambling for the Super Bowl was done by friends, office
pools, and at online casinos. All of which are apparently illegal. All of these
huge figures being thrown around are making the government officials chomp at
the bit at the thought of all of the possible tax revenue that could be
generated from the game alone. The online casino industry and sports betting
websites are reporting record numbers from this year’s Super Bowl.
The game had online casino players and sport fans alike going online and betting
on things from the results of the game to other things as trivial as who would
win the coin toss in the beginning of the game. Online casinos received record
bets this year and this means that the winners of these bets will have to report
their winnings in their tax returns. This is a responsibility that no one really
knows who will take seriously or who will just take their winnings and keep them
under the table. In a survey conducted by the Phoenix district manager of H&R
Block, Sue Taylor, they found that one third of their customers were not aware
that their winnings were taxable.
The online casino industry is very familiar with taxation. Hopefully if you bet
a couple of dollars at your office the Internal Revenue Service will not
investigate. A senior federal tax analyst for CCH, John W. Roth said "If you win
an informal office pool, you technically are supposed to report it. But I think
the Internal Revenue Service is more concerned about Internet betting, which is
easier to track through credit cards." There are tools that you can purchase to
track your gambling so then you can report it accurately at the end of the year.