More than 4.5 million of you bet on your favorite sports teams. Is the income you earned in 2023 taxable?
Sports betting is popular. Whether for the sake of winning, or just to spice up a match, 4.5 million French people made an online bet in 2022, according to figures from the National Gaming Authority (ANJ). In total, more than 8.2 billion euros were released in 1 year.
Punters, especially men of under 35 years oldspend on average 312 euros per year. If you made money betting on your favorite football team or F1 driver, are you required to report it on your 2024 tax return?
Scenario 1: your earnings are irregular
Article 92 of the general tax code (CGI) allows you to tax as non-commercial profits (BNC) all occupations, lucrative operations and sources of profits not related to another category of profits or income.
This is what tax experts call a broom clausewhich allows the tax administration to tax a certain number of sources of profits which would otherwise escape income tax.
Even the usual practice of games of chance, such as sports games, does not constitute a lucrative occupation.
However, winnings from sports betting are a special case. Except in exceptional circumstances, even the usual practice of games of chance, such as sporting events, does not constitute a lucrative occupation or a source of profits within the meaning of article 92 of the CGI, due to the burden which weighs on the player’s prospects of winning, explains Franck Demailly, associate lawyer at the AJE firm, interviewed last year by MoneyVox on this subject.
Result: In the vast majority of cases, you do not need to report your earnings. And this, even if you have won a large sum. In a decision dated March 21, 1980, regarding horse racing betting, the Council of State had the opportunity to recall that gaming winnings were not taxable even if they exceeded the amount of the taxpayer’s other income. , specifies Franck Demailly.
Indirect taxation
The tax authorities still receive their share of the revenue. Sports betting operators approved by the ANJ must indeed pay a tax. Previously, this taxation applied to players’ bets. Since 2019, it has focused on gross gaming revenuethat is to say the difference between the sums bet by the players and the sums paid to the winners.
This tax, apparently painless for punters, nevertheless impacts your prospects of winnings, albeit indirectly, to the extent that bookmakers like Unibet, Winamax or even Betclic partly pass it on to the odds, which are therefore weaker in France and abroad.
Scenario 2: your earnings are regular
However, there is a much rarer scenario in which the revenue generated may be taxable. This is the case when the tax administration considers that the hazard normally inherent in games of chance can be eliminated (…) greatly reduced by the bettor.
This is the case for a poker player chevronn. Case law considers that a regular poker player can reduce the random nature of the outcome of this game and increase his probability of receiving significant and regular winnings due to his experience, indicates Franck Demailly.
Can this reasoning apply to sports bettors? The answer seems less obvious. Because even if an experienced bettor studies the odds and probabilities, he remains simple spectatorthe difference of a poker player who can influence a game.
In short: the vagueness remains. That said, if you win too often, and the amount of your winnings is large, the tax authorities risk considering you as a professional bettorin which case your winnings will become taxable.
The assessment is however made on a case-by-case basis, specifies the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP), without specifying the frequency or the amount from which it judges that a bettor practices as a professional.
2024 tax declaration: deadline, DGFiP transfer… Here is the official calendar