blonde poker forum

The UKPCA (www.ukpca.co.uk) have a petition on the No 10 website to allow poker to be a subscribed game under the 2005 Gaming Act. We need as many signatures as possible to  try to impress on the DCMS the importance of allowing regulated poker to be played outside of a casino environment. You only need to look at the recent Dusk Till Dawn scenario to see how vindictive the casinos are - even though DTD only wanted to play poker and not any of the "house" games three casino groups lodged an application to stop DTD opening for another 6 months at least. We want to be regulated and we need poker to be "prescribed" under the 2005 Act. Please sign up and help us and email this link to as many poker players as you have in your address book.

The petition can be found at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Poker-UK/



Thank You

Geoff Owen
UKPCA

Signed. Will mention on my forum too.

In the meantime, why not sign it yourself Geoff? ;)

Is it alright if I copy and paste your post above, quoting who it's from? Too busy to write it out myself .....

Signed

Signed

Have to say though, whilst the intent behind the petition is honourable, I have my doubts as to what good it will actually serve. The government has whole heartedly taken a somewhat pejorative stance with anyone that subscribes to the notion of poker being anything other than pure luck/gamble!

Will this mean that poker winnings will be taxed?

who cares i never win

You might be taxed on your loses...

woooohhhhhhhhhooooooooo rebate

Thanks all who have signed so far.

Geoff Owen
UKPCA

Signed.

Good luck

Geo

Done
Good Luck

 signed

Signed / bumped ;)

Signed - disappointing number of signatories though

I would like to know whether this is the case, if so i will not sign it. Turkeys do not vote for christmas, the current governments stance on poker is fine by me.

Gambling on Chess, Bridge, turkeys or poker is not taxable. I don't see how this petition could change that and even if it did it probably wouldn't make much difference if the amount of tax paid by the builders and taxi drivers that I know are any indication of what a good accountant can do.

There are a lot of big names who haven't signed though. It would be interesting to hear why they don't want to.

I strongly believe poker winnings should be taxed.

Why should poker players be exempt?

Maybe they feel that sending e-petitions to the government is about as useful as emailing Robert Mugabe and telling him to lighten up a bit.

you send one of them too?

Nah.
I'm not prominent enough,



But I'll bet Rainbow's sent one

wondered where shes been lately maybe she got a date out of it

To be honest Camel, you are probably morally correct and people who make their living from gambling should pay their way like everyone else has to.

I am being selfish and I will happily admit it, I don't want poker or other forms gambling taxed as it effects my bottom line.

done

done
BTB

Done



 4h Kh Nutzzzz

I could never get used to that: Enter a $200, come first for $840, total profit $620, no er but wait there's the small matter of $150 tax. Jeeeeez. I know players for whom this is a reality.

As far as I remember winnings aint taxed because of the hassle of rebates for the losing players: it's just not worth the effort. Also, Inland Revenue fed up with the bad beat stories.

Tax on top of rake would restrict the number of people who could make a decent living from playing.
One of the attractions of poker, particularly online, is that it is income without strings attached (only moral ones!).

This area seems to be a moving feast, which may come to a head at some point (which I suppose has already happened in the US).
Any thoughts I've got of playing this daft game full time, are tempered by being s**t scared of how things will change in the medium term, and how this affects my ability to earn.

I remember Snoopy talking about the negative effect that the US legislation had on his profitability, and it appears to be widely accepted that the largest resource, PokerStars, is tougher to earn on since the change.

The Poker economy relies on a constant input of new customers, and initiatives like taxation, local legislation, makes it potentially more difficult for new people to get in.

I'm not sure if the petition mentioned in this thread will have any specific negative impact, but the more you push Poker into the faces of the lawmakers, the more likely you are to end up with legislation.

It would be quite impossible to tax personal poker earnings in the UK, in my view.

It's a basic premise of UK Tax Legislation that losses can be offset against profits, so the overall net tax gain to the Revenue would be very small.

In addition, the cost of collecting it, & the nightmare in practical terms of so doing, renders it well-nigh impossible.

Most Online CardRooms are outside UK juristiction, & even collecting it in B & M venues would be a horrifically complex exercise. It may be possible - just - to do so in Licensed Venues, but what about Unlicensed Venues, how would that work?! If a Venue does not have, officially, the right to operate, how could the Inland Revenue possibly get involved? - they'd be taxing (& thus condoning) an illegal activity.

Taxing the Gaming Industry as a whole may end up taking the route that the High Street Bookies are now subject to - an extra tax on Profits. That's a very different kettle of fish, though.

http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page12211.asp (http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page12211.asp)

Government's response

Don't hold your breath for a result in July