As a Canadian, for the life of me I can't figure out why non professional gamblers would be charged on winnings anyways. I've had winnings withheld in Vegas and could never understand the reasoning. The U.S. government already taxes the casinos, the race tracks and we won't even talk about lotteries. I think the United States is the only country that taxes winfalls.
I know in Canada one of the governments contemplated the idea of taxing lottery winnings over $1 million and the backlash was so strong they cancelled the idea for fear of losing the election
