It's no wonder you find yourself in the middle of confrontational threads on a regular basis. I would think that a real professional in the area under discussion could present a response to something that might be incorrect in a tone resembling something more professional than it's "a load of crap".

As to people recording and reporting gambling wins and losses, under most circumstances, the people doing the gambling aren't doing so as a profession. To report every win that isn't recorded by the casinos in the form of issuing 1099's or W2G's simply isn't worth the effort required to keep records of every loss incurred by the nonprofessional gambler.

In the case of large money tournaments that can be entered through satellite qualifiers, I agree with Pete. The voucher or NCV chips used to advance into the larger tourney are not cash-exchangeable instruments and should be treated as being no different than making it to the next level of the tourney, not as taxable income. While the current tax code doesn't agree with that view, it should.

Bob