Joe Hachem Keeps Poker Fortune Safe From The Taxman
In a victory that looks even more fortuitous than his epic performance at this year's World Series Of Poker main event, Joseph Hachem has outwitted the Australian Taxman. His lawyer successfully argued that when Hachem won his $7.5 million poker was merely his hobby and not his liveihood. This gambit will certainly not work for Hachem in the future, however.
Since winning the WSOP and beating the largest field ever assembled fore that event, Joe Hachem has moved along with his family to the fabled big house in Beverly Hills, in order to pursue poker full-time.
Australians are generally liable to pay tax for offshore gambling winnings, but Hachem was able to beat that rap by pointing out that he was not a professional gambler.