Written by :
Published on :
It’s not easy being a Swedish poker pro these days.
One has to contend with sophisticated hackings, blackmail, threats of violence and even the possibility of being murdered.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse…..Along comes the Swedish Tax Authority.
A number of prominent pros received letters from the Swedish Tax Authority informing them that Skatteverket is looking for information concerning their poker winnings from 2008-2011. Citizens of that Scandinavian nation are being required to claim taxes on winnings from websites located outside of the European Union with four companies specifically named in the letter: Bodog poker, Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars.
And while some of the Swedish pros are easy to spot based on their worldwide notoriety – Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Erik Friberg and top Swedish money earner Martin de Knijff – it seems the Authority is going after even the “little guys”.
How are they doing it?
Good ‘ol fashion data mining websites!
From CalvinAyre.com:
Apparently, the Swedish Tax Authority is asking players to give up their online poker screen names. Once they have the screen names, they cross-referencing the names against data gleaned from various data mining sites to see if what the players claim to have won coincides with the information from the data mining sites.
These data mining sites, the bane of many recreation and professional player alike, gather, store and sell data on a player’s hand history, style of play and of course the amount of money won or lost playing on various online poker sites.
Bodog claims the Swedish Tax Authority can no longer obtain information about its players since switching over to anonymous tables that were implemented to prevent such data mining. A number of players expressed frustration over Bodog’s move to anonymous tables late last year.
Swedish poker players stand to pay a steep price for playing with sites outside the European Union. Winnings earned from said companies will be calculated at a 30 percent tax rate while it is tax free to play on sites based within the EU. The later options are not always among the most enticing, however.
- Ace King, Gambling911.com
