Casino Losses Deemed Non-Tax-Deductible

Just because you turn a profit doesn’t mean you’re in business; and if you don’t turn a profit, well, then you’re definitely not in business. That means your gambling losses aren’t tax-deductible—and neither is the buffet, especially when it’s free. Even in Canada they don’t go for that kind of thing, as Giuseppe Tarascio recently discovered. Tarascio tried to deduct two years’ gambling losses of $96,000, up there in Toronto. He didn’t have a lawyer, and he proved it when he said, “If the casinos can make money from me, then I should be able to claim the amount.” He believes that if only he’d had a lawyer, a new precedent would have been set. He should drop it. The thing about gambling, as a business venture, is that as soon as you get it up off the ground, it drops right back down again. They even have a platitude for it: the house always wins, just as surely as gravity does.