Two brothers from Quebec, Canada, have set a precedent regarding taxes on gambling revenue in the country.
41-year-old Terry and 35-year-old Brian LeBlanc from Aylmer, Quebec, have wagered large amounts of money, around $260,000 on a weekly basis since the late 1980's, after winning $75,000 at a race track and investing their win in further sports betting.
Their strategy was betting vast amounts of money on long odds events, loosing quite a lot but when they won, they won big. They won $1.4 million on two occasions and won $4.7 million between 1996 and 1999.
But in 2000, the Canada Revenue Agency decided to send them a notice of reassessment for the years 1996 to 1999, since they considered their gambling a business and therefore subject to tax.
The CRA claimed that the brothers used a system to conduct their bets and that they employed 15 paid helpers. The case ended up at the Tax Court of Canada and, last week, Mr. Justice Donald Bowman ruled in favor of the Leblancs, stating that there was no evidence that they used any system at all.
The judge also said the Leblancs were compulsive gamblers, but they were not running a business and their winnings were not taxable. William Vanveen, the brothers' lawyer, said the ruling was an important victory for gamblers everywhere.
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