Do gambling wins count as earnings? | London Daily News

The gambling and entertainment industry is ever-growing, especially with its extended accessibility in iGaming. It should come as no surprise that many bookmakers win big—enough so that it could be considered an income. This raises an interesting question: Can one consider gambling winnings as their earnings?

This question becomes especially relevant regarding casinos that offer big payouts. This would sometimes depend on how much you win in each game. However, according to iGaming expert Lilian Costache players have loads of opportunities to take home sizeable winnings as she highlights the many incredible bonuses up for grabs at the UK’s best paying online casinos such as generous welcome bonuses, cashback offers, free spins, and first deposit bonuses. Beyond these extremely enticing bonuses for players to boost their earnings, these casinos offer players many other perks like an extensive game library with high RTPs and are provably fair through blockchain, offer swifter, payouts, and accept a variety of safer, faster, and more transparent payment options like cryptocurrency.

However, despite the many opportunities to win big, the frequency of your winnings would need to be considered to determine if gambling could serve as your sole source of income.

Taxation Laws

Various factors can help deduce whether gambling winnings can be classified as earnings. For one, it depends on the taxation laws in one’s residential country.  For instance, in the USA gambling winnings are taxable while in the UK they are not. However, the taxed amount is solely based on the winning amount. Other countries may differ in this regard, with some not taxing individual winnings

Is It Business or Casual Gambling?

Another factor to consider is whether an individual is gambling casually or not. For example, if gambling is one’s only source of income, then that would definitely classify winnings as earnings. This would be seen as professional gambling. If a bookmaker is gambling casually but uses their earnings for business activities, it would also be considered as income. Business activities can include expenses for traveling, profit, taxes, and even office supply purchasing.

Depending on these factors, an individual’s winnings could be taxed. And if it is being taxed as income, then it would be safe to classify it as one’s earnings. Furthermore, this can be impacted by the way winnings are reported and, ultimately, the management of finances. The latter means the nature in which the winnings are spent once deposited into a bank account.

Should Winnings be Reported?

The method of reporting gambling winnings can impact its classification. For instance, some countries might not tax winnings, but would still require it to be documented. This is especially true if bookmakers earn large sums of money while gambling. Some countries may have a threshold for when gambling winnings start to get taxed. Some, like the US, may not.

Another reason it is important to file winnings is to track losses. In multiple countries, individuals can deduct gambling losses when filing taxes. However, this is dependent on the laws within said jurisdiction or country. But it is possible to deduct losses totalled to the amount of winnings earned. For instance, if one earns $10K+ in winnings for a month, but has also lost a similar amount – this can be filed as deductions on a tax form.

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