D'Auteuil – Tax Court of Canada finds that poker, which the taxpayer successfully engaged in on a full-time basis using skill and risk-minimization techniques, was a source of income

The taxpayer was assessed for unreported net earnings from his activities as an online poker player participating in games of the type “Texas Hold’em without limit” for his 2008 to 2011 taxation years (including net earnings of $1.4 million and $1.9 million for 2010 and 2011), and also was allowed the deduction of a net loss for 2012.

In finding that the taxpayer’s gambling activities were a source of income and in dismissing the taxpayer’s appeal, Favreau J noted that these activities were his main source of income during the years in dispute, that he devoted himself on essentially a full-time basis to them, and that “[d]espite his unusual lifestyle and his propensity for always wanting to play at the high-stakes tables, the appellant was a serious businessman” as evidenced, for instance, by various risk-management techniques that he utilized.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of D'Auteuil v. The King, 2023 CCI 3 under s. 3(a) – business source.