The question of whether the appellant was obligated to pay child support maintenance out of his poker winnings turned on whether, under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, he was "a person gainfully employed in Great Britain," with "employment" including any trade, business, profession or vocation, and "employed" having a corresponding meaning. After noting findings that the appellant appeared on television for a few weeks and won a prize, communicated his strategies for online poker online and, when gambling in person, carefully selected favourable tables and set a target sum to win after which he stopped, Longmore LJ stated (at para. 20):
Even in combination these findings do not to my mind amount to such organisation as to constitute a trade, profession or vocation.
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