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and amounts of her winnings, tips, and ATM charges and attached
those records to her Schedule C. Respondent agreed at trial that
petitioner kept meticulous records. Nevertheless, on her Form
1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, petitioner listed her
occupation as “Floral Manager”.
For gambling to reach the level of a trade or business
activity it must be “pursued full time, in good faith, and with
regularity, to the production of income for a livelihood, and * *
* not a mere hobby”. Commissioner v. Groetzinger, 480 U.S. 23,
35 (1987). The Supreme Court, in Groetzinger, held that a
taxpayer who spent between 60 and 80 hours per week at dog races
qualified as a professional gambler even though the taxpayer
received income during the year from interest, dividends, capital
gains, and salary earned before his job was terminated.
Likewise, a taxpayer who spent 35 hours a week at a horse track
after losing his job as a salesman and who was seeking a new
sales job qualified as a professional gambler for purposes of
section 162. Rusnak v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1987-249.
Unlike the taxpayers in the cited cases, petitioner did not
pursue gambling full time. She gambled regularly but only after
she finished working at her flower shop. She frequently stopped
at Smith’s to play the slot machines on her way home from work.
As she reported on her tax return, her occupation was “floral
manager”. The fact that petitioner earned income from
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