Professional Poker Affect Va And Ssdi Benefits?

[rosypalm]

Greetings Vets,

Well I'm a happy man Im 100 percent p and t and I also have SSDI. My question is now that I have been playing poker and don't want my benefits to be affected. Poker is therapy for me and gives me purpose . I read an article that Billy Baxtor professional poker player went to a high court and made Poker "earned income" to IRS. If that is so will the VA and SSA consider playing poker a job? Please help I dont want to quit on my dream of playing poker ,but I dont want to lose the source of income I have which is Va compensation and ssdi benefits.

[Commander Bob]

Greetings Vets,

Well I'm a happy man Im 100 percent p and t and I also have SSDI. My question is now that I have been playing poker and don't want my benefits to be affected. Poker is therapy for me and gives me purpose . I read an article that Billy Baxtor professional poker player went to a high court and made Poker "earned income" to IRS. If that is so will the VA and SSA consider playing poker a job? Please help I dont want to quit on my dream of playing poker ,but I dont want to lose the source of income I have which is Va compensation and ssdi benefits.

Greetings 'rosypalm'. Kenny Rogers had a song that included the line "...Know when to hold em, and know when to fold em...." JMHO, If you do not walk away from the gambling, there is a chance you could get addicted as was mentioned by carlie, Testvet, and others. Then lose the IU, etc. etc... ("I'm just saying", Wings quote).

Edited May 27, 2010 by Commander Bob

[Commander Bob]

Rosy,

unless you are getting 1099G's you are fine. Worst case, you lose you 100% TDIU rating, but you would be makign way more than they pay for 100%. I know of a few 100% vets that play poker daily. One is in a wheelchair and even works as a VA rep. He sports an 07 Escalade so money can be made in poker. The key is are you continuing to get treatment? Is your therapist aware of gambling has been therapudic? Just continue to receive treatment, make it to appointments and not withdraw more than 9,999 on Full tilt and you will be fine. If you make it on WPT, that would be amazing. The issue, seems to be IU vs just schedular %. Don't sweat it

I like your positive attitude, USMC-HVEQ. "Therapeutic Gambling"... That's a good one.

OohRah!!

[Testvet]

If you played on the WPT I think you would have a hard time convincing anyone that you were still disabled those WPT events are about 8 hours a day at the tables and if you make it to the final tables you will have been playing for about 7 days straight most people would declare that to be a "job" they would care less that you call it theraputic I think both your IU and your SSD would be revoked you can't have your cake and eat it to don't get greedy thats what gets people in trouble as you have seen from some of the comments here already and these are not even VA raters

[USMC_HVEQ]

I like your positive attitude, USMC-HVEQ. "Therapeutic Gambling"... That's a good one.

OohRah!!

Commander Bob,

I do try and have a positive attitude, because I can tell you, I've had the other attitude for far too long and it has not been healthy in my treatment. I do know from personal experience that gambling is NOT therapudic. It only causes more problems in the long run. ROSY, may believe it is therapudic because he has found enjoyment in something that occupies his time and he can possibly make money at it. This is all well and good, but don't try and claim TDIU is all. Just stick to getting treatment. If you can do something that has gainful employment, why not do it? if Poker constitues gainful, then just conitue doing it and withdraw IU. Rosy called gambling therapy. Hence I made the correlation fo therapeudic gambling.

[rosypalm]

Brb

Rosy

Getting an answer on this will be tough, for 2 reasons. First, if anyone has done what you are referring to, they probably are keeping their mouth shut. For the rest of us who have not done it, we can only venture a guess. Here is my 2 cents worth:

I think there is very little chance you will loose your benefits exclusively due to income from gambling. However, you could loose your benies with this issue in combination with other issues. One example would be if the VA called you for a re exam, and you were in Vegas playing poker and did not know it, then you could miss your appointment and your rating would likely be reduced.

Another possible example would be if you discontinued your mental health exams because you felt better from gambling. I think if you did not continue with your treatment you could be at risk for a rating reduction.

If you are older than 55, especially with your P and T status, the Va is going to have a hard time reducing your benefits, especially if you follow the procedures. You know..if they send you a 60 day notice of proposed rating reduction, then you had better give them some good reasons why your rating should not be reduced, or they will reduce it.

I have read quite a bit of discussion on ratings/rating reductions and working. Remember that schedular ratings totaling 100% still enable to you obtain or keep employment. Max Cleland, Tammy Duckworth, and John Mc Cain are high profile disabled Vets collecting their benefits and working. Its a totally different story, however, if you are collecting TDIU, because you have to certify every year that you are not working to collect TDIU.

I also think there is some discrimination going on against Veterans with a mental illness. You see, those 3 above named people all have disabilities that are pretty obvious and visible. Mental illnesses are not nearly as visible..the Va does not require you to wear a Tshirt saying "I have a mental illness rated as 100% by the VA". Of course, if you had 2 legs blown off like Tammy Duckworth, it is pretty obvious. You see, if Tammy Duckworth overcomes her disability and is able to work from her wheel chair, she is a hero. However, if a Veteran with a mental illness was able to overcome his disability and still work full time, then he would be thought to be a "malingerer" (faker). I do not agree, nor do I subscribe to this discrimination to the mentally ill. I cant see how it is somehow good to overcome the disability of missing legs, but somehow evil to overcome ones mental problems and become productive. A big part of this is that people beleive what they can see and doubt what they cant....even tho things we cant see can be very, very real. We can not see the nucleas of an atom, but that does not mean a nuclear weapon will not harm us. This is just my 2 cents worth.

bronco vet I know what you are saying and I'm just saying mental illness gets a bad rap these days from stupid scientologists to world famous actors saying theres no such thing as mental illness. Thanks so much for your input.

[rosypalm]

Greetings 'rosypalm'. Kenny Rogers had a song that included the line "...Know when to hold em, and know when to fold em...." JMHO, If you do not walk away from the gambling, there is a chance you could get addicted as was mentioned by carlie, Testvet, and others. Then lose the IU, etc. etc... ("I'm just saying", Wings quote).

Naw im no way addicted like i said earlier i put fifty bucks in on a fifty cent dollar table and moved up limits thats all.