Bob Pajich over at Card Player magazine is doing a series of articles on each state's poker laws. And yours truly (PPA Litigation Support Director) is helping him out! So we started with my home state of NH first, and Massachusetts is the second one examined.
You can find the article here:
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/4615/massachusetts-home-poker-law-is-ancient
Patrick "Skallagrim" Fleming
Nice Job!
Interesting. However, the article states that charity tournaments are not taxed. I run charity tournaments in Berkshire County, MA (www.berkshirepoker.net). In my experience, the charities must obtain a "Raffle and Bazaar" permit and file a tax return with 5% to the Lottery Commission. It would be great to find out that no tax is due as it cuts into the money raised by the charity.
There is also a reference to a folder published by the AG's office on charity tournaments. Does this contain information beyond the advisory published on their website? The advisory is pretty confusing.
Went back and checked the AG's "Advisory" and found this regarding taxes:
"The Lottery Commission does not require that an organization obtain a permit from the Commission, but does require that the organization hosting a bazaar, including any poker tournament, file a report on the funds raised and pay to the Lottery Commission five percent of the gross proceeds."
Thanks for checking that out ZOG. Technically that might be considered a "fee" not a "tax" - but practically speaking there is no difference.
Skallagrim
Great stuff Skall!
You must log in to post.