Gambling Professionally in the United Kingdom

[blah99]

I am a foreigner, currently living and working in England. I have a few questions regarding gambling for a living over here.

1) I have heard professional poker players do not have to pay tax on their winnings in the UK. Is this true even if it is your sole source of income?

2) I am on a 5-year working visa, and plan on applying for 'indefinite leave to remain' and eventually a British passport when the visa expires. Would the UK be able to reject an 'indefinite leave to remain' or passport application based on your profession being a professional poker player?

3) What are the chances that online gambling will be illegalised in the UK in the next 5 - 10 years?

[davmcg]

1) Generally no tax is payable as gambling is not considered a trade or profession and this was backed by a court judgement many years ago. I wouldn't have thought this would be likely to change as it would need specific legislation but you never know. If someone was stupid enough to insist that it was a profession (see Q2) I would imagine that the Revenue would be happy to take the money.

2) Have no idea - but I would think that saying that you gamble for a living wouldn't be as helpful as saying you work for a kitten rescue charity.

3) Very close to zero

[GittyUP]

I doubt they would allow to you stay as a poker player. They are very strict when it comes to immigration and visas for foreigners. Your lucky you managed to get a 5 year working visa in the first place.

[_Apollo_]

If someone knows a website with information about gambling professionally in all the european countries, please post it here. I've been looking for hours but can't find(a good) one.

3)Very small from what I've read. All they do is make it more controlled (like the advertisements,...) but no word about illegalising.

Question about 1. if this is so, how long do you have to live in the UK to legalize the gambling winnings?

[davmcg]

[ QUOTE ]

Question about 1. if this is so, how long do you have to live in the UK to legalize the gambling winnings?

[/ QUOTE ]

The simple answer is as long as it takes you to be solely subject to UK tax. When this is (if ever) depends on the tax rules of where you were before and maybe even your citizenship.

[Richas]

[ QUOTE ]

Question about 1. if this is so, how long do you have to live in the UK to legalize the gambling winnings?

[/ QUOTE ]

Your 5 year working visa means you are OK now.

If you want to be sure of being able to get a UK passport (if you are American giving up your US citizenship stops you being liable to US tax but also has a downside) it would make sense to get a part time job too, some sort of charity work would look good but essentially you just want some sort of history paying a bit of tax and NI. A life outside poker is also worth having!

You'll have to take a citizenship test and language test so you'll need to gen up on some pretty wierd general knowledge - ie where do you get a fishing rod license (post office) what should you do if you spill someones pint in a pub (apologise and offer to buy a replacement).

Poker will be legal in the UK in 10 years time. Sept 07 sees online legalised and regulated.

[_Apollo_]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Question about 1. if this is so, how long do you have to live in the UK to legalize the gambling winnings?

[/ QUOTE ]

The simple answer is as long as it takes you to be solely subject to UK tax. When this is (if ever) depends on the tax rules of where you were before and maybe even your citizenship.

[/ QUOTE ]

Didnt want to hijack this thread but thanks for the answer.
I'll look into it someday.