[4thstreetpete]

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Interesting, thanks for posting this as I've been wondering myself.

I'm by no means an authority on the subject, but I always thought that lottery (and casino) winnings were NOT taxable in Canada.

I recently heard in the news that Dalton McGuinty (<-- liar, broken promises, liar, ...) said that he was going to try to tax (live) casino winnings. This leads me to believe that, currently, casino winnings are NOT taxed. And I further do not see how a disctinction would apply between "live" and "online" casinos.


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Casino and lottery winnings are not currently being taxed here in Canada. The finance minister shot down the idea of taxing casino winnings basically because reports show that the amount of money collected from casino profits would barely put a dent on the defecit, it was too insignificant and wasn't worth their time to put all this in place. For Canada it just doesn't make sense, but for the U.S. that's a totally different story, there's too much money there to be made.

There is a BIG difference between live and online play. With live play it's almost impossible to prove how much you won or lose, with online it leaves a paper trail. If your bank notices something fishy, they may report it to the CCRA.

The term 'reasonable expectation of profit' leaves so much room for interpretation. You ask ten diffent people and would most likely get ten diffent answers. Remember, it's just guideline that is in place in the tax code and is not binded by the statutes of the law.

As always, it's best to get some legal advice.