Who is the worlds most famous gambling addict? Probably John Daly. A sporting legend with a personality bigger than his gambling debts. There has been a hell of a lot written about him over the years so we have grabbed one of the most interesting perspectives into his gambling addiction that we could find. We hope you enjoy the read too!

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John Daly Relied On Tax Records To Figure $90 Million Gambling Losses

However, gambling winnings from bingo, keno, and slot machines generally are not subject to income tax withholding: slot machines were one of Daly’s favorite targets. He admitted playing the $5,000 slots at the Wynn Casinos in Vegas quite often but says, “Now if I gamble, I play the $25 slots. If I hit something, I might move up to $100. John Daly can use a cart in next week’s PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. The question now is whether he even makes it to the PGA Championship. Daly tied for 27th last week at the Insperity. If you know anything about wild-man golfer John Daly, you know that his appetite for gambling is as prodigious as his love of fast food and hard liquor (he even has a vodka-based cocktail named for. Golfer John Daly says he doesn’t regret his gambling losses, which he claims totaled approximately $55 million. (Image: Fox Sports) Back in the 1990s, John Daly was one of the best golfers in.

You don’t think tax returns are handy?

Tell that to John Daly. Daly recently revealed that he ran the numbers and determined that his actual gambling losses were $90 million compared to $35 million in gambling wins. The numbers are so staggering that it shocked even him: he had only estimated the figures in prior conversation before deciding to review his tax records.

Daly’s net gambling losses over the period 1991-2007 totaled about $55 million. The famous golfer thought it was about half that, saying:

“We went through all my tax records to find out, because I really didn’t know, and it just came to that. I was shocked. I thought it might have been $20-25 (million), but I had no idea that it was $55-57 million. It’s crazy.”

Daly burst onto the scene in a big way in 1991 when the then relatively unknown 25 year old golfer managed a “zero to hero” win at the 1991 PGA Championship. He wasn’t even supposed to be at the tournament: he was the ninth alternate in the tournament, replacing Nick Price whose wife was having a baby.

As a college golfer, Daly had never won a tournament. As a kid, he taught himself to play, using golf balls he fished out of a pond in his native Dardanelle, Arkansas. And yet, he dominated the course, startling his competition – and perhaps himself.

His paycheck for that performance was $230,000 – nearly 40% more than he earned in total the year before. He didn’t keep his good fortune to himself, donating $30,000 of his winnings to the surviving children of a tourney spectator who had been struck by lightning and killed.

Daly’s generosity was perhaps only matched by his appetite for obsessive behaviors – like gambling and drinking – that would add to Daly’s colorful legacy. His drinking interfered with his play and his endorsements over the next several years. In 1995, he won the British Open, keeping him on the golf leaderboards. He became the only American golfer to win two major golf championships and numerous PGA championships but never participate in the invitation only Ryder Cup, prompting Daly to remark to a Canadian radio station, “I feel like I’m the Babe Ruth of golf… He always wanted to be a manager and he never got that chance. But it’s not something that breaks my heart or anything. As long as we hopefully win, that’s all that matters.”

Daly might have liked winning on the course but off the course, he just wanted the rush, win or lose. He said about gambling, “It was more about the adrenaline than the money … I loved the action.”

Sometimes, he lost more than a million dollars at a time. In 2006, he admitted that after losing a playoff to Tiger Woods, he drove to Las Vegas and gambled away $1.65 million in five hours. Over a nearly 15 year period, he threw away $90 million in losses on just $10,116,306 million in PGA tour winnings (and $35 million in gambling winnings).

Daly recognized, however, that those losses weren’t completely useless: he says that he kept detailed records of all of his big gambling sprees. That came in useful on those tax returns: while gambling winnings are fully taxable, you can also claim your losses.

Winnings are reported on your federal form 1040 as “Other Income” on line 21, including winnings that are not subject to withholding. Federal income tax generally is withheld at a flat 25% rate on gambling winnings of more than $5,000 from any sweepstakes, betting pool (including payments made to winners of poker tournaments) or lottery, or if the proceeds are at least 300 times the amount of the bet. However, gambling winnings from bingo, keno, and slot machines generally are not subject to income tax withholding: slot machines were one of Daly’s favorite targets. He admitted playing the $5,000 slots at the Wynn Casinos in Vegas quite often but says, “Now if I gamble, I play the $25 slots. If I hit something, I might move up to $100. But I don’t do what I used to do anymore.”

If you aren’t subject to withholding, you may need to pay estimated tax. If you don’t pay enough in taxes on your winnings through a combination of withholding or estimated tax, you may be subject to a penalty. That likely wasn’t an issue for Daly, who lost more than he won.

You may deduct gambling losses only if you itemize deductions on a schedule A. You claim gambling losses as “Other Miscellaneous Deductions” on line 28: they are not subject to the 2% limit. Unfortunately for Daly, you can’t report more in losses than you claim in winnings. You can’t use the net loss to offset other income or carry the loss forward or backwards to offset winnings in other years.

These are the rules for casual gamblers. You might think that Daly would qualify as a not-so-casual gambler but the burden to prove that you’re a professional gambler for tax purposes is pretty steep. Daly’s activities are less likely “pursued full time, in good faith, and with regularity, to the production of income for a livelihood” as outlined in Commissioner v. Groetzinger, 480 U.S. 23 (1987), and more believably, as a hobby. Just ask Daly. Despite tens of millions of dollars in gambling losses, Daly doesn’t seem to regret his behavior, saying, “I had a lot of fun doing it.”

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-athletes/richest-golfers/john-daly-net-worth/
Says he's won 40 million but lost 50 million.

It also says he was born in 1909.

It also says he was born in 1909.

Wikipedia has August 26, 1909 as the date of birth of the boxer John Daley.

Here in San Diego someone won $1 million playing 10 play video poker. It was 'only' a $25 machine but he was playing 5 credits x 10 plays for a total of $1,250 per spin. I talked to an employee about it and they said he signs a form stating he is a professional gambler so they don't have to do a hand pay for every win over $1199 since it would happen every few spins.

Now what sweet promo would make a person play a machine like that for profit since I assume the game was -EV to begin with. And hitting the dealt royal on that must have been awesome. I've never seen a multiline game above $5 I think. I don't look very hard though.

The golfer John Daly used to play $100 slots all time, back in his heavy drinking/smoking days. He's cleaned up his act some; so don't know if he swore off high limit slots or not. I heard one interview where he claimed he won 200K at a particular tourney and lost 100K back in high limit slots two days later.

I was in Bally's talking to a guy who put three $100s in a $100 machine to win $100,000. First time I saw a non-WheelOfFortune 6-figure jackpot live. Good thing, since he was down -$40K at the tables, and he could pay off his markers. John Daly hit $1 million same day, but I didn't see it. Bally's workers hated him...he never tipped.
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In Nov 2009 Bellagio, a guy won $3 million in one weekend. Friday, I had just walked over the bridge from Caesar's Palace where someone hit a $400,000 royal, and I saw this guy playing TDB superfast on 3x$100 (usually $1,500 bettors play slow, and this guy was playing like an impatient nickel player) so I asked one of the attendants how he was doing. He had just hit a dealt royal for $1.2 million. In 2 hrs, he hit 46 pages of jackpots (Each page might be 60-80 jackpots) and made $2 million. Sunday he came back & hit Bellagio for $200,000 five times (numbers from high limit staff). Total $3 million.
Staff said they took a serious hit to their HL finances that Nov, but they were still ahead for the month.

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There was a regular $1,000 player at Bellagio. One day he hit $1,000 Top Dollar for $1 million.

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Was talking with a WSOP player and we were showing each other jackpot pictures. He showed me a $140K jackpot and said it was $14K. I went, woah...., this guy makes some serious money, I would remember the difference between $140K and $14K,... So he started showing me his multi-million dollar jackpot photos. One time at a small casino, he had to wait 3 days to get paid.

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