Focus on growing your business without the hassle of dealing with the numbers

Sport bettors & business owners:

Need help understanding your numbers?

Not sure how to get everything entered?

No time to do this and everything else?

Want to be compliant with your local, state, and federal government?

Want to reduce your tax liability as much as possible?

Is the financial stuff stressing you out and interfering with your productivity?

Growing so fast you no longer have time to keep up with the books?

We are passionate about helping professional gamblers & business owners get financial clarity and free up time so they can focus on what they do best.

Tax advantages of filing as a professional gambler:

If a client qualifies as a professional gambler, there are significant tax advantages:

- They can deduct ordinary and necessary expenses related to their gambling activity, just like any other business. This includes travel costs, subscriptions for betting advice, home office expenses, and more.

- Professionals report gambling wins and losses on Schedule C rather than as “Other Income.” This allows netting wins and losses to arrive at a net profit or loss from gambling for the year. Most importantly, it avoids any impact on adjusted gross income.

- There is no need to worry about whether the client itemizes deductions or takes the standard deduction. Gambling losses can be deducted above the line as business expenses.

How to qualify as a professional gambler:

There is no black-and-white definition of a professional gambler versus a recreational gambler; it is addressed on a case-by-case basis. However, the IRS does provide guidelines. A CPA explains that, in essence, “you need to be treating gambling as a profession. So that means you need to be gambling regularly with the intent to make a profit.”

The volume of activity alone does not necessarily qualify someone as a professional gambler in the eyes of the IRS.

You should also:

- Maintain separate bank accounts and credit cards exclusively for gambling activity.

- Keep detailed records of all gambling sessions, expenses, wins, and losses.

- Demonstrate a potential for long-term profitability.

- Have the expertise and skill set to gamble at a professional level.

- Spend considerable time practicing, analyzing, and improving gambling strategy.

Simply filing taxes as a “pro” for the tax benefits without meeting these criteria can draw IRS scrutiny. Thorough recordkeeping is critical to validating one’s professional gambling status if audited.

Mastering the “session method” for tracking activity

When reporting gambling wins and losses, the IRS-approved “session method” is critical, especially at the state level. The session method allows the netting of wins and losses within a continuous gambling session. This can result in much lower gross winnings, and therefore, lower taxes owed. Professional and recreational gamblers can use this method.

For example, a gambler may receive a W-2G, Certain Gambling Winnings, from a casino showing $15,000 of winnings from a slot machine. However, they may have only profited $5,000 from that session. The W-2G only reflects the result of a single wager. It does not account for any losses incurred. If gamblers take advantage of the session method, they would only report their net win of $5,000 from the session.

Proper implementation of the session method involves:

- Defining sessions appropriately based on the gambling activity— slot play for a full day or one poker tournament, for example. Note that each individual sports bet is considered a session based on the best interpretation of IRS guidance.

- Tracking buy-in and cash-out amounts for each session.

- Recording sessions accurately as they occur—not weeks or months later.

- Providing supporting documentation of sessions if audited.

Gamblers should understand session method mechanics and properly utilize it to minimize taxes owed.

Bookkeeping is critical to your cash flow, profitability, and overall success!

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