{"id":74732,"date":"2018-04-07T11:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-04-07T18:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=74732"},"modified":"2018-04-07T08:31:49","modified_gmt":"2018-04-07T15:31:49","slug":"spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish Chess Grandmaster Hounded by Tax Officials Over Poker Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

Francisco Vallejo Pons is Spain\u2019s top chess player, a grandmaster who is ranked 36th<\/span>\u00a0in the world, according to the April FIDE ratings list.<\/p>\n

\"Francisco
Francisco Vallejo Pons owes hundreds of thousands of euros to Spanish tax authorities for playing online poker, even though he lost money overall. (Image: Wikimedia Commons\/Stefan64)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But he is finding it difficult to compete in top events, as he is being hounded by Spanish tax officials who say he owes more than half a million euros for his online poker play<\/a> \u2013 even though Vallejo says he actually lost money while playing the game.<\/p>\n

The story emerged last month, when Vallejo let the European Individual Chess Championship in Georgia after the fifth round. That led to a long Facebook post from the grandmaster, who revealed that he had been struggling with a number of personal issues.<\/p>\n

Chief among these was an outstanding dispute with Spanish authorities over online poker play that occurred back in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a gambler by any means,\u201d Vallejo wrote, according to a translation by Chess.com<\/em>. \u201cI lost everything, a few thousand, and I stopped playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tax Dispute Surfaces Years Later<\/strong><\/h2>\n

That seemed like the end of Vallejo\u2019s very amateur poker career. But five years later, it came back to haunt him in an unexpected way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2016 I receive a letter from [Spanish tax officials] requesting more than 6 figures,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMore than half a million euros because I played poker and lost.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At issue is an old Spanish tax law that was in effect through 2012. Under that law, online gambling earnings could be subjected to taxes at a rate of 47 percent, and losses were not deductible. For a poker player, that causes serious problems, given the number of individual sessions that are considered wins or losses. Because Vallejo took a while to lose his bankroll, he booked many winning sessions along the way, sticking him with a massive tax bill.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s tax laws were updated in 2012 to prevent this situation from occurring again. However, because Vallejo\u2019s play came before then, it is still subject to the tax regulations that were on the books at the time. He says that tax officials know that he lost money over all playing poker, but that they don\u2019t care, and have already seized most of his savings.<\/p>\n

Stress Threatens Chess Career<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to Vallejo, the pressure of the tax liability began to impact his chess career<\/a>. He cancelled tournaments, and stopped participating on the national team in international events. That culminated in his decision to leave the tournament last month, the first time he had left a tournament early in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a mistake to come to the European Championship,\u201d Vallejo said. \u201cI was not prepared for that, although I would have loved it, the reality is stubborn.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the key points he has wanted to make is that he is not alone in this situation, even if his story has become the most high-profile case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are hundreds of equal cases,\u201d Vallejo wrote in another Facebook post on the subject. \u201cMany people who in their day played poker or sports betting for a hobby, and lost small numbers, are now involved in terrible judicial processes, with their accounts seized and their lives destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Francisco Vallejo Pons is Spain\u2019s top chess player, a grandmaster who is ranked 36th\u00a0in the world, according to the April FIDE ratings list. But he is finding it difficult to compete in top events, as he is being hounded by Spanish tax officials who say he owes more than half a million euros for his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":74734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,11,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpanish Chess Grandmaster Hounded by Tax Officials Over Poker Play<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Spanish grandmaster Francisco Vallejo Pons says he owes hundreds of thousands of euros in taxes for playing online poker, despite the fact that he lost actually lost money on the game.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spanish Chess Grandmaster Hounded by Tax Officials Over Poker Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Spanish grandmaster Francisco Vallejo Pons says he owes hundreds of thousands of euros in taxes for playing online poker, despite the fact that he lost actually lost money on the game.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-07T18:00:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-07T15:31:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Vallejo-Pons-1024x703.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"703\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/\",\"name\":\"Spanish Chess Grandmaster Hounded by Tax Officials Over Poker Play\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Vallejo-Pons.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-07T18:00:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-07T15:31:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Spanish grandmaster Francisco Vallejo Pons says he owes hundreds of thousands of euros in taxes for playing online poker, despite the fact that he lost actually lost money on the game.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/spanish-chess-grandmaster-hounded-by-tax-officials-over-poker-play\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Vallejo-Pons.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Vallejo-Pons.jpg\",\"width\":2331,\"height\":1601,\"caption\":\"Francisco Vallejo Pons owes hundreds of thousands of euros to Spanish tax authorities for playing online poker, even though he lost money overall. 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