Gambler Argues of Personal Privacy - Court Allows Deductions
Estelle Busch may have been a loser at the slot machines, but she won when she took on the Minnesota state tax system. The Minneapolis woman did it by claiming to work more than full time ? 60 hours a week, in fact ? at gambling. She said she won $1. 5 million and lost $1. 7 million over three years. The state said she couldn't deduct her gambling losses ? $200,000 ? under applicable Minnesota tax law. The state Supreme Court agreed and ruled she didn't owe the back taxes. Justices called it a "trade or business," even if it wasn't a terribly reasonable one to practice.
"It was just plain hard work," said the 72-year-old retiree, who had been a schoolteacher, police dispatcher and landlord. Busch argued in court documents that she researched slot machines on the Internet Casino Gambling and frequently asked Mystic Lake staff and customers which machines were "rolling. "Attorneys representing the Commissioner of Revenue countered that playing the slots required no skill or research and was entirely dependent on chance.
May 18, 2006
Posted By Skip Davis
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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