When Pius Heinz won the 2011 World Series of Poker main event last week he collected amazing $8.7 million and became the first German main event winner in WSOP history. So, how much will be taxed by his native country Germany? The answer is none, nothing, nada. According to CNBS sports analyst Darren Rovell, who tweeted a story by Fox that breaks down the tax situation for each 2011 November Nine [...] Read more » 2011 WSOP: The taxman can't touch Pius Heinz's $8.7 million
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 6669
I'm actually happy for Pius ans especially for the way the german gov thinks about poker game in general... They are 100% correct when they say that you need to invest money in poker in order to make money and those money that you first invest were already imposited... I'm sure Pius will maek something smart with them
Also,I doubt he gets to keep it all. It's true that in general gambling-winnings are tax free,however,they also tax online poker winnings of people who frequently cash out to their bank accounts (I dont know how both rights can be combined,but they just do it),and I doubt they will let him through with such an amount
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
Pius was already happy for having won the 2011 WSOP and now he is even happier to know that he will keep all the prize, not having to share it with the Government. I can understand this decision. If players paid a tax when starting to play this tourney, that means the prize already have a tax discount. On the other side, one buys a Euromillion ticket and that value isn’t taxed, which means the big first prize everyone dreams about will be taxed, no matter the country.
Joined: Feb '11
Location: Ireland
Age: 52 (M)
Posts: 476
i hope he gets to keep the lot of his winnings,he deserves it,they should try and tax the greedy bankers/bondholders who caused the recession in europe and @fakiry the euromillions draw is tax free except in switzerland
Joined: May '09
Location: India
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 4873
45-75% of taxes on poker winnings is insane ( 45% tax on the first $4 million in winnings and 75% on anything over $4 million) how is someone in denmark supposed to maintain profit after this much tax?
Joined: Feb '11
Location: Germany
Age: 31 (M)
Posts: 1859
Posted by Macubaas: Then how it comes that german poker players are very present at the pokerstars real money tables???
Online poker is banned but you are still "allowed" to play?
It's not banned,it's illegal,but not banned in the sense of websites getting blocked (the same in the case in poland too I think) You also dont get any punishment or anything if you play,its pretty much a useless law
Also,I doubt he gets to keep it all. It's true that in general gambling-winnings are tax free,however,they also tax online poker winnings of people who frequently cash out to their bank accounts (I dont know how both rights can be combined,but they just do it),and I doubt they will let him through with such an amount
WSOP is live, and he will get it all, the law is on his side. TBH Germany is muddled its self up, first they make a law, in short saying all forms of online gambling are illegal in Germany, they then do nothing to enforce it, ie. ensure banks don't fund it or block sites etc etc, so why, simple because the law means s**t when the European Union legislation specifically allows online gambling, its the same reason why the UK is not jumping on the BANdwagon, and taxing is too hard to control the way they would like to, for me tax is fine, i'm self employed.
I actually think anyone playing poker for a living should pay tax, they use the taxpayers money every day, why should they be exempt? Its economic sence, work pay tax.
Joined: Jan '10
Location: Indonesia
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 1875
Posted by BeMyATMplz:
Posted by Macubaas: Then how it comes that german poker players are very present at the pokerstars real money tables???
Online poker is banned but you are still "allowed" to play?
It's not banned,it's illegal,but not banned in the sense of websites getting blocked (the same in the case in poland too I think) You also dont get any punishment or anything if you play,its pretty much a useless law
useless law is good words for me . I agree 100%. So dont take tax . They dont banned poker site because they know it's stupid law. Poker tournament is TOURNAMENT !! SAME like Tennis, Football etc. I hope oneday casino will separate poker from casino game and declare poker is mind game, not gambling !!!!!!!!!!!!
Joined: Feb '11
Location: Germany
Age: 31 (M)
Posts: 1859
Posted by EimsbushKing: it was a big russian staking forum who bought 30% of the action.
Yep,can confirm that,the guys' name runnin gthe fund is ,he's buying loads of action of highstakes MTT players at big live events. Heinz also swapped 2% with "firaldo",he's a member of a staking forum I'm in. mbn to score 175K by railing sick thing about it is,the swap was done on day 1
Joined: Feb '10
Location: Suriname
Age: 47 (M)
Posts: 1189
In some countries taxes are used for politician's their own benefits and not of the people of that country, so I congratulate Heinz with his tax-free winnings.
Joined: May '09
Location: Spain
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 1331
Hello!
Perhaps you do not have to pay taxes (immediately) by the poker winnings but will have to do sooner or later. Know of any government to stop tax-free income for millions of $ $? I do not.
Joined: Dec '09
Location: Serbia and Montenegro
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 300
Hahahah so lucky he is, not only he won the bigest tourney in poker world he also gets to keep "all" of his 70% maaan...im about to watch the final table recordings lets see how he won :]
Joined: Jun '11
Location: Germany
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 10
I wanna set one thing rigth: Nobody has stacked Pius Heinz. He pays the 10000 from his own bankroll and Nobody has helped him with money, thats what he self said at the german TV Show "TV TOTAL"
German Players get now a lil bit more Respect on the tables i hope so
