Sharing Links
Recent Articles
- Popular Broadway show 'Wicked' coming to the Smith Center
- Ronaldo, World Football Challenge coming to Vegas
- Broadway Theater opens at New York New York in Vegas
- MGM 7 Day Sale Ends tomorrow - Here's what you can save
- Tyson's show debuts to so-so reviews, closes tonight
- Relax, everyone - Donny Osmond is back at the Flamingo
- Jersey Boys arrive in Paris (Las Vegas)
- Celine Dion Ok'd to return to singing
- Is it going to rain on our St. Paddy's parade? Sure looks like ...
- Gameworks closes on the Vegas Strip
The Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2010
- 3-12-2010
On February 23, 2010 Senators Ron Wyden (OR-D) and Judd Gregg (NH-R) introduced S.3108, otherwise known as the Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2010. The main point of this legislation is to simply the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Anyone who has ever had to look at the federal tax code will tell you that it needs to be revamped and updated. Online poker players should care because it paves the way for licensing and taxing internet gambling.
In Title IV, subsection C, subchapter E there are provisions to license internet gambling. Online poker rooms like Full Tilt Poker would have to pay a licensing fee by the end of each calendar month. Two percent of all funds deposited by customers would be the fee paid. In section 4491(c) the licensee is the entity liable to pay the fee and can’t deduct an amount from a players deposit to cover the fee. For example, if a player deposited $10 into their account, the licensee could not credit your account $8 and keep $2 to pay their licensing fee.
In the same subchapter E, section 6050X(b)(3) the licensee is required to track each win, wager, and loss, for the year of someone who places at bet or wager with the licensee or someone else engaged in the business of accepting a bet or wager. In essence, anytime you sit down to play online poker your wins and losses would be tracked by the poker room for the purposes of reporting to the Internal Revenue Service by the licensee. The subsequent sections all make clear that any wins, taxes, and deposits are to be traceable for potential reporting.
Section 425, Subchapter V, Section 5381 contains the Congressional findings. Of special note is this particular section: “(4) Internet gambling in the United States should be controlled by a strict Federal licensing and regulatory framework to protect underage and otherwise vulnerable individuals, to ensure the games are fair, to address the concerns of law enforcement, and to enforce any limitations on the activity established by the States and Indian tribes.†If you currently live in a state where playing online poker is against the law, you would need your state to overturn that law so that you could play online poker legally. A little further in the bill the enforcement mechanism and licensing actions are granted to the Secretary of the Treasury and it specifically states that safeguards must be put into place to ensure anyone playing is physically located in a jurisdiction that allows internet gambling. Theoretically, if you live in a state like Washington, a poker room like PokerStars would have to come up with a way to block all Washington residents from playing at their site.
You should always pay your taxes, and those include any gambling winnings. Those of you who have shirked the tax law and in the past days would find that improbable upon passage of this bill. Fans of internet poker would need to rally their state legislatures to legalize online poker. This bill isn’t perfect but it’s the one of the closest forms of legislation we have seen yet to address all the issues of taxes and licensing and regulation for internet poker.
Discuss this article in our forum
In Title IV, subsection C, subchapter E there are provisions to license internet gambling. Online poker rooms like Full Tilt Poker would have to pay a licensing fee by the end of each calendar month. Two percent of all funds deposited by customers would be the fee paid. In section 4491(c) the licensee is the entity liable to pay the fee and can’t deduct an amount from a players deposit to cover the fee. For example, if a player deposited $10 into their account, the licensee could not credit your account $8 and keep $2 to pay their licensing fee.
In the same subchapter E, section 6050X(b)(3) the licensee is required to track each win, wager, and loss, for the year of someone who places at bet or wager with the licensee or someone else engaged in the business of accepting a bet or wager. In essence, anytime you sit down to play online poker your wins and losses would be tracked by the poker room for the purposes of reporting to the Internal Revenue Service by the licensee. The subsequent sections all make clear that any wins, taxes, and deposits are to be traceable for potential reporting.
Section 425, Subchapter V, Section 5381 contains the Congressional findings. Of special note is this particular section: “(4) Internet gambling in the United States should be controlled by a strict Federal licensing and regulatory framework to protect underage and otherwise vulnerable individuals, to ensure the games are fair, to address the concerns of law enforcement, and to enforce any limitations on the activity established by the States and Indian tribes.†If you currently live in a state where playing online poker is against the law, you would need your state to overturn that law so that you could play online poker legally. A little further in the bill the enforcement mechanism and licensing actions are granted to the Secretary of the Treasury and it specifically states that safeguards must be put into place to ensure anyone playing is physically located in a jurisdiction that allows internet gambling. Theoretically, if you live in a state like Washington, a poker room like PokerStars would have to come up with a way to block all Washington residents from playing at their site.
You should always pay your taxes, and those include any gambling winnings. Those of you who have shirked the tax law and in the past days would find that improbable upon passage of this bill. Fans of internet poker would need to rally their state legislatures to legalize online poker. This bill isn’t perfect but it’s the one of the closest forms of legislation we have seen yet to address all the issues of taxes and licensing and regulation for internet poker.
Discuss this article in our forum