I don't understand why this is newsworthy. It is not hard to believe at
all.
On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 12:11 PM, VpKing77 <vpking77@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hard to believe.
>
> Couple's $500K Gambling Loss Deduction Won't Fly
> By JEFF D. GORMAN
> ShareThis
> (CN) - An Illinois couple must pay taxes on their gambling winnings,
> but they cannot claim their losses as deductions, a state appeals court
> ruled.
> Because the Illinois Department of Revenue found that Jerry and MaryLou
> Byrd visited casinos as recreational gamblers, rather than as part of a
> business, it would not let them write off their losses for the tax years
> 1999 through 2002.
> The Byrds did most of their gambling at the slot machines of the
> Hollywood Casino in Aurora and the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin.
> A trial court agreed with the department that the Byrds owed an
> additional $60,382 in state taxes, despite having incurred $437,977 in
> gambling losses during that period.
> Illinois' second appellate district court, based in Elgin, affirmed the
> lower court's ruling.
> "We conclude that, because the evidence shows that the Byrds did not
> devote themselves full-time to gambling but that Jerry Byrd continued to
> work full-time in the graphic arts industry, where he drew a comfortable
> salary that supported the Byrds' gambling, there was no clear error in the
> department's determination that the Byrds' gambling activity was a pastime,
> not a trade or business," Judge Joseph Birkett wrote on behalf of the court.
>
>
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