We go to work and we are taxed on what we earn!

If we win on the lotto, the pokies, the nags and its tax free!

I don’t get it; there is a source of revenue that although it reduces the size of a win does not reduce the punters hard earned income.

A couple of side benefits of such a tax would be the identification of problem gamblers and money launderer’s.

Poker machine, casino and lotto revenue are already taxed by the government at the point of sale (ie. hotels, clubs, casinos etc). Taxing the 'winners' would be double dipping.

In fact, in Queensland the Golden Casket Lottery Corporation lottery was originally set up and owned by the government to pay for community projects (originally returned veterans of the Great War). It was sold in 2007 and is now owned by Tattersalls.

The problem that all gamblers have is that they are innumerate.

They cannot see that the only people who come out on the positive side of the ledger are a) the organizers - casinos, bookies, whatever and b) the government, who taxes the organizers' earnings.

In such a situation, the government could tax up to 100% of the individual punter's "winnings" at any point in time, and they still wouldn't notice. They would still lose overall, it would just be that their money would disappear faster.

It would be like taking candy from a baby, and even the government wouldn't stoop to that, would they.

Or... would they?

An afterthought. If you tax their winnings, would you also give a tax credit on their losses? I suspect not.

Correct, pericles.

The polkies, nags and all casino games are mathematically setup so that punters, long term, *MUST* lose .... ALL punters including "so called" professional punters. Remember, short term wins always turn into long term losses ..... that's the way it's set up. And all the idiot punters "believe" they can beat the system ... despite the mathematics.

The *ONLY* exception is lotto type entries. Why? Because the first prize is sooooooooooooo MASSIVE, any winner is virtually guaranteed to have won more than they invested over their entire lives in Lotto entries. But overall, when *ALL* the losing (meaning non 1st prize winners)lotto punters are taken into account, they *ALWAYS* lose long term on both a collective and individual basis .... that's why Lotto makes a profit on EVERY draw.

Punters who bet on the nags, casinos, nags and those types of things are simply the dumbest people alive. Mathematically, long term, they can NEVER win. But they are soooooooooo stupid that they think short term profit means they are "winners". Sure, they are winners at stupidity.

The problem with taxing gambling "so called" winnings, is that the overall losses then become tax deductible, so the government will actually lose money on that. Why? Because people ALWAYS lose money long term.

Bugsy – Most businesses pay tax. Using your logic taxing the wages of their employees would be double dipping? The good old days of the Golden Casket! I suppose the tax rate by default was most likely greater than 50%. The proceeds went to a good cause however.

Pericels – A tax on winnings from gambling is not as low as some current taxes (or the lack of taxes in some cases) and would be a lot fairer. Government does not give tax credits to individuals for many legitimate life expenses. One could imagine the uncontainable explosion of gambling if it issued a tax credited for gambling losses.

I notice no one has commented on the identification of problem gamblers and money launderer’s?

I used to profit from gambling. My father was a gambler & generous with it.

When ever he had a real win he would give mum & I some of it. Mum bought furniture, I saved up & bought a bike.

His gambling taught me it was a fools game, gamblers never win long term, as others have said. That does not mean professionals can't make money.

I knew a bloke with an almost perfect system. He bet only on one leading jockey. He bet enough on his every race to recoup any losses, & make his desired income. He needed a moderate bank to start, & had a quite large one when I knew him. His only worry was his jokey might be injured or disqualified for a period, after a bad run.

He had plenty of money, & paid no tax.