For those of you who play seriously.... Call it professionally if you wish. What are there, if any, for Laws concerning Taxes taken out of your poker winnings. I.E Joe Hachem wins seven million in the WSOP. Does that get taxed like a standard income. 27% or whatever... Or do you have to claim it on your taxes when you tax and you will be taxed... Let me know how these taxes work.

And as a corrolary... I have heard rumours. that if you win more than like 1200 dollars at a casino you have to provide your social security #... Is this true... In certain casino's... Never.... Please provide some of your incite Gentlemen....
Jordan

U.S. citizens are "supposed" to claim all income from all sources, no matter where or how it is earned, on their tax returns. Whether or not they actually do this is another matter.

Joe Hachem is not a U.S. citizen. In his particular case, according to IRS Publication 901, Australian citizens pay no U.S. tax on income earned in the states as long as they are here for less than six months, and do not have a "fixed base", or residence in the country. In addition, I believe that Australia doesn't tax gambling winnings so, as far as I know, Joe had to pay zero tax on his big win. Greg Raymer, on the other hand, would have had to pay around 40% in taxes between federal and state.

The cutoff for casinos being required to file a form W2-G on payouts (and thus needing your social security #) is $600 for all games other than keno, bingo, and slots. The cutoff for keno is $1,500; the cutoff for bingo/slots is $1,200.

thank you from that wonderful info !!!

joe did have to pay tax's on site when he won but was able to claim to get it back !!

Thank you sir. Exactly what I wanted to know. So how do people like Ivey play with fake ID's... I know Ivey made more than $600 when he used to play in atlantic city at age 17... Maybe not though... Perhaps the laws were different. As far as taxes go do you have to claim anything under 600?

The $600/$1200/$1500 rule only applies to casino payouts - when you win a casino game and the money comes from them. It applies to tournaments where the casino holds the prize pool and then distributes it to winners. It also applies to jackpots, whether its bingo, slots, or a high hand poker jackpot. The casino must keep track of all of these payouts and report amounts paid above the 600/1200/1500 limits in any given year.

When you are playing live (cash game) poker, you are not playing against the casino, you are playing against other players so the casino isn't required to keep track of, or report, anyone's earnings. Everyone is on the "honor system" with the IRS when it comes to reporting earnings. And yes, the IRS wants you to report every dime you earn (net earnings, meaning wins minus losses). Whether or not you actually do, as I said earlier, is your business.

many casino's who offer a high hand bonus pay it cash on the spot and it allways ends up being 599.00$ to avoid the tax.