10 million in play: three Quebec poker players lose against the taxman

Three Quebec poker pros have just lost their most expensive part, the one who has opposed them to the Canadian tax authorities for a decade.

• Read also: Ottawa wins against two poker pros which won several million dollars

Martin Fournier-Giguère, Philippe d’Auteuil and Antoine Bérubé pocketed nearly $ 10 million online between 2008 and 2012. The Federal Court of Appeal confirmed on June 10 that they had to pay the tax on their earnings, believing that they did use a company.

“Obviously, nobody disputes that chance plays a role in the result of poker parties, but no one disputes the role of the player’s skills either,” said Judge René Leblanc in this decision which makes jurisprudence.

In total, the litigation gains reach $ 6.7 million, according to updated amounts. MM. Bérubé and d’Auteuil could each have to pay approximately $ 850,000 and $ 2 million in taxes combined in Ottawa and Quebec, according to estimates reported by The newspaper in 2023.

Often drunk or frozen

To escape the taxman, the three men supported playing “above all for competition, adrenaline, the thrillAnd adopted a “risky, reckless and irrational” behavior, noted the trial judge Réal Favreau.

They also insisted that they played “regularly under the influence of alcohol or drugs” and did not take specific measures to minimize the risks, arguments that their lawyers presented as incompatible with a serious business exploitation.

A revealing operating mode

But the judges retained other elements. Between 2008 and 2012, MM. Bérubé and d’Auteuil played 255 to 330 days a year, often several hours daily on several tables simultaneously. They used the Holdem Manager software to compile their statistics and analyze their opponents.

“Despite their extraordinary lifestyle, they had a serious businessman behavior,” concluded Judge Favreau.

The Court of Appeal confirms this analysis, stressing that they “adapt their strategies according to the levels of the game table and the strength of their opponents” and call on “computer tools allowing them to compile statistics”.

Contrast with the Duhamel case

This decision contrasts with the victory of Jonathan Duhamel in 2022, who had escaped the taxman (read below)

The representatives of the three players still analyze the decision and could request a final exam from the Supreme Court of Canada, who will first decide if she agrees to hear the case.

Jonathan Duhamel: the exception that confirms the rule

The former world champion of poker Jonathan Duhamel can count himself lucky following the judicial debacle of the three Quebec pros.

In 2022, the Canada Revenue Agency (ARC) claimed $ 1.2 million in taxes of $ 5.4 million made between 2010 and 2012, but the Canadian Tax Court in its favor.

Unlike the other three files, the arc had then chosen not to bring the decision on appeal. Duhamel therefore never paid tax on his millions of dollars in winnings.

Atypical profile

The fundamental difference according to the judges? The “chance” remained “a very important element” in the results of Duhamel, and his “probability of ruin” far exceeded 50 %, according to the analysis of the court.

The native of Boucherville nevertheless displays a much more spectacular record than his colleagues dismissed. World champion in 2010, its US $ 8.9 million were worth $ 11.5 million CAN.

“Wherever I go, people still tell me about it,” he confided in 2017 to Journalevoking his international notoriety which had earned him a five -year commanditis with Pokerstars.

An assumed retirement

Today father, Duhamel put his cards in November 2021.

“I did not expect to discover one day a stronger passion than poker,” he said in 2017 after the birth of his children.

This trajectory with diversified income and a gradual retirement of the game perhaps explain why his tax file has experienced a different way from that of the other three, considered as poker entrepreneurs.