A question regarding taxation upon gambling income.

"A question regarding taxation upon gambling income.
As most readers of this board are aware, taxation of the gambling income of individual citizens is not universal. Does anyone know how many of the 191 UN member states other than the U.S. do impose such taxation? Is there citation or summary of this phenomenon found within the internet? Any guidance would be appreciated. "

I don't know every state, but of 191 members, the taxing ones that I know of are:

Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

To avoid international double taxation and to prevent tax evasion, Uncle Sam will not tax your gambling incomes from America if you pay taxes on winnings to your own country listed above. In the eyes of IRS, if your motherlands (i.e., Taiwan) are not listed in the above, your winnings are assumed not being taxed back home; thus, you're "required" to pay taxes to IRS. Disclaimer: I'm not a tax attorney, so don't hold me to the above stuff personally.

Many states (Canada, Australia, possibly New Zealand) make a distinction between gambling money earned as a hobby and winnings earned as a trade. Lottery winnings and casino winnings by recreational gamblers are not taxed. Winnings by professional gamblers are theoretically taxable. There are various tests to determine if gambling constitutes a trade such as the degree of organization, special knowledge and whether or not gambling is the tax payer's primary income. Gambling is a grey area - the tax authorities would like to take their cut but are extremely reluctant to open up the possibility of gamblers writing off expenses which would overwhelm winnings. I believe the UK has similar rules but are even more reluctant to admit gambling as a trade so many will claim that there is no tax on gambling winnings in the UK even for professionals (others disagree).