This is America. An obsession with football is rampant. The most watched football event of the year is the Super Bowl. The 2 teams playing this year are the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. The Ravens have won the Super Bowl once in 2000, and the 49ers have won the Super Bowl 5 times, in 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989, and 1994. The 2 teams will be playing on February 3rd, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Fans of both teams are adamant that their team is going to win the big game. An interesting twist on this year’s game is that the coaches of both teams are brothers.
Not surprisingly, the Super Bowl is the most gambled-on sporting event of the year. Around $100 million is wagered per year on bets for the Super Bowl. And this number is only from the bets that are officially registered in states that legally allow gambling. It has been estimated that as much as $380 billion is wagered in off-the-books gambling.
The IRS can technically collect taxes on any winnings collected from gambling. Most people don’t know this, however, and so the IRS has a difficult time collecting taxes on money obtained from gambling. They have an even harder time collecting money from unregistered and unofficial gambling.
People who make bets on the Super Bowl are technically supposed to report their winnings to the IRS, and so the IRS can tax them appropriately. Obviously, this does not happen very often. So if you’re betting on the Super Bowl, have fun watching the game and be careful about who knows about your gambling practices.