11.4 Gambling Winnings and Losses. Writing a Client Letter

Facts: Your client, Mr. Lucky Betts, is a full-time professional poker player who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lucky has been competing in poker tournaments for many years. For the last several years, Lucky has been very successful, and his poker tournament winnings have far exceeded his losses and expenses. Unfortunately, last year was not a good one for Lucky. Last year, Lucky won money at some poker tournaments, amounting to $165,000 in winnings, but he lost $228,000 in other poker tournaments. In addition, Lucky incurred the following expenses last year: (a) Travel to poker tournaments (held other than in Las Vegas): $2,500 and (b) Tournament admission/entry fees: $10,500. Lucky also earned $82,000 of investment income last year. Lucky recently told you that he assumes that, due to his losses and expenses, he will not owe any federal income tax for last year, but has asked you to confirm that for him.

Required:

First step: Identify the relevant Code sections and regulations and find a court decision that is relevant to Lucky's situation. Be sure to check the citator and the Code to make sure that the case is current and that subsequent authority has not affected the precedential value of the decision. (Hint: The court decision you find may predate amendments made to the Code; this may affect your conclusion and the advice that you provide to Lucky in the next step.)

Second step: Based on your findings in the First Step, how do I explain to Lucky whether or not his assumption is correct; that is, will Lucky's losses and expenses offset all of his income from last year?