Author’s note: What follows is just a purged thought. Right now, there are steps to be taken long before people get into the actions discussed in this post, but while the answers weren’t definitive enough for my ESPN column, it was interesting for me, which may mean they’re interesting for you. For future reference, if the title includes ‘Poker Apocalypse’, it’s current stuff. If it includes ‘Poker Apocalypse fallout’, it concerns out present goings on, but likely isn’t as crucial to to moment at hand.
So, yesterday’s ESPN article research got pretty comprehensive and I found myself asking a few questions I didn’t think I would. One was based off a joke I heard one pro make about collecting unemployment checks. When I started thinking about it, there wasn’t a lot of comprehension floating through my head as to why it wouldn’t be plausible.
Think about who the online grinder is right now. You’re a highly skilled worker who suddenly finds himself deprived of a venue thanks to government interaction. Does that not entitle you to the same protection anyone else would be offered in a similar situation? The idea offered to me was that you need to put into the pot to take back out, but I know a lot of pros who do pay taxes on online poker winnings because they consider it a legal duty and a professional necessity*. They’re done their duty; isn’t it now time that the government does theirs?
*Case in point: The DOJ, through the saga we’re at the very beginning of, could eventually get the books and start researching who’s taken what off which sites. Not to say it will happen, just that there’s a slight possibility it happens. Players, if you have been making substantial money online and not declaring it, I recommend calling your closest accountant friend and having a frank, off the record conversation about this and seek their advice. It doesn’t need to be today (of all days) and they’re not going to help you for the next few weeks (to my knowledge, the accountant’s lead up to tax day is as brutal as any stretch any profession endures. They need unwind time), but once they’re back to normalcy, take them out to lunch, order the good wine, be clear you’re off the record and ask what needs to be asked.
So, I started asking around Twitter for tax lawyers thinking they might have answers (I don’t know why, I was in a panic because my deadline was coming and going and the article kept getting longer…), then was instructed to talk to employment lawyers. I called out for employment lawyers* on Twitter and received the benefits of my newly increased following as a lot of people helped get me in touch with the appropriate folks (thank you!). The lawyers I ended up speaking with were nice people one in all and incredibly helpful, so apologies for any lawyer jokes I’ve made in the past. Really, I was repeating the gospel. I haven’t had bad lawyer experiences.
*I think I spoke to more lawyers in a professional capacity yesterday than I have in the other 14,000-some days of my life combined.
So, here’s what I came away with. Unemployment checks are a function of state law. Each state has a different legal code that defines the criteria through which one would qualify for unemployment and therefore there’s no blanket answer regarding whether poker players will qualify, but the one thing I found really interesting is that none of the employment lawyers I spoke to (and they were all from different states) thought the question was a stupid one. The reactions consisted more of curiosity and wonder, because the feeling was that the logic I was bringing was actually pretty sound. So, once they were over the initial surprise at the question, what was the feeling?
It’s going to take a bold action. Initially, players will be refused in a lot of states. The best example I got was Ohio, where, to collect a check, you need to prove you’re seeking similar work. The initial reactions in those little windows will be ‘you’re not seeking, so you don’t get a check’, which probably means someone will have to do something a little more drastic than applying. Legal action may need to be taken. The thing is though, the mechanism is there to actually get players’ plights heard, crazy as that is. Crazier still is the thought of a multi-millionaire online pro getting paid this way. Unemployment doesn’t hedge based on past earning. Granted, the unemployment check will be a little smaller than the over-sized novelty check you got for winning your WPT, but in the new world order, if the nearest legal game is an 8 hour drive away, money is still money.
Like the author’s note said, this isn’t a major concern today, just a thought that’ll need fleshing out in the months to come. Still, information is information. I hope I planted a seed.
Interesting concept, however in California in order to get unemployment compensation your employer pays into the state unemployment compensation fund when they pay you.
So for online poker players I’m sure this hasn’t happened. Unless the player was an employee of a business that paid it for him or her, which theoretically could happen in a staking arrangement, but unlikely. So the next thing the silly government will try to do if someone files for unemployment is try and fine someone for not paying that tax as well
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it