Playing Poker - One Helluva Hobby
Published: Thursday, December 22, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
PLAYING POKER - ONE HELLUVA HOBBY
Good news for WSOP champ
The Age of Melbourne, Australia reports that World Series of Poker 2005 champ
Joe Hachem was the recipient of really good news this week - he won't have
to pay income tax on his $A 10 million WSOP winnings from Las Vegas due to a tax
ruling that he was pursuing a hobby, not working.
The Melbourne father of four toppled American and European poker heavyweights
by blitzing the World Series of Poker in July.
Hachem's lawyers said the Australian Taxation Office had found their client
was not in the business of playing poker at the time of his win.
"As a result of this finding, the poker winnings were classified as income
derived from a hobby, and thus not subject to Australian tax," his lawyer
Peter Donovan said in a statement. "The distinction between the conduct of
a business and the mere pursuit of a hobby is often a difficult distinction to
draw. However, the fact that you excel at a particular hobby should not be fatal
for tax purposes."
Hachem will be a featured player in the Aussie Millions tournament to be
held in January at Melbourne's Crown Casino.
