Quote:
Originally Posted by rocket21
After this paragraph, it goes on to cite a court case where a guy's income was made up mostly from card playing and horse betting. The case was about how his gambling activities "were so extensively organized and occupied so much of his time and attention that, had they continued throughout the years in question, any net gain therefrom might possibly have been income from a business". He ended up not having to pay income tax.
The paragraph does not say he made most of his money from card playing and horse betting, it says he earned "substantial amounts" from those activities, I have no idea what amount constitutes as substantial, but I would consider something as low as 30K to be substantial. The same paragrah goes on to say that he was a hotel proprietor during the time he was playing cards and horse betting so it's a lot easier to prove that playing cards and horse betting were a hobby when during that time he owned a hotel and derived income from that.
Here is the paragraph Rocket 21 is refering to:
"The most important Canadian case to hold explicitly that casual gambling gains are not taxable is Morden,30 a 1962 decision of the Exchequer Court. Morden was a hotelproprietor in Sarnia who had earned substantial amounts from playing cards and betting on horse races and sporting events in the tax years from 1949 to 1953. The Minister had reassessed Morden, arguing that he should have included in his taxable income his wagering winnings from those taxation years. Cameron J. stated that Morden’s gambling
activities up until 1948 “were so extensively organized and occupied so much of his time and attention that, had they continued throughout the years in question, any net gain therefrom might possibly have been income from a business.”31 Nevertheless, making reference to a number of the relevant English authorities,32 Cameron J. held that for “all the taxation years in question, his gambling activities were only occasional and amounted
to nothing more than indulging in a hobby or recreation, and that therefore his net income therefrom was not taxable.”33 Cameron J. stated in closing that “[w]hile his bets were high at times and his gains substantial, I can find no evidence that his operations amounted to a calling or the carrying on of a business. Gambling was in his blood and it provided him with the excitement which he craved. It was his hobby.”34 Following Morden, it has been generally accepted in Canadian income tax jurisprudence that gambling gains will not constitute income from a source if the gains result from casual betting that is more akin to a hobby than to a business. It will only be
cases in which a taxpayer is conducting a business of gambling by, for example, acting as a bookmaker, that the gains will be susceptible to income tax."
Poker players are nothing like bookmakers however the bookmaker was just an example of running a business.