by
This story flew under the radar when it happened, but once we saw it, we just HAD to reshare here. It involves the state of betting in Georgia and everyone’s favorite government organization, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Welp, the IRS sent a friendly reminder in the middle of September — just as the Atlanta Falcons were starting the NFL season out — about the “dangers” of betting inside the state. Of course, Georgia does NOT have legal sports betting yet. They are one of 12 states in the country without it in any form. Here’s what they said:
IRS Posts Press Release To Scare Off Would-Be Bettors
This announcement came straight from the IRS Criminal Investigation Atlanta Field Office. As the name implies, this is the arm that investigates criminal offenses — not the ones that crunch your taxes at year’s end. Welp, the criminal investigation office wants you to make their job easier by NOT betting within Georgia borders.
The office went on to say the illegal sports betting market in the United States alone was worth $700 million. Honestly, that numbers sounds criminally low. Another organization, the American Gaming Association, says Americans bet $64 billion on non-regulated sports bookies. So which is it? As it’s often the case, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Of course, the IRS doesn’t like this. Why? Because it’s money they can’t easily track and if they can’t account for it, then it won’t be subject to income tax. Color is surprised! We mean, the IRS wants to tax cash tips for Pete’s sake so you know they want their greedy hands on betting winnings too.
But the IRS can’t say the quiet part out loud. Instead, they have to play the moral game and pretend bookies are evil. These bettors are supporting evil enterprises when they bet at unlicensed locations. Here’s what their press release said about the matter:
“Individuals who participate in illegal gambling may think it’s a harmless activity that does not affect anyone,” said Special Agent In Charge Demetrius Hardeman, IRS-CI Atlanta Field Office in the press release. “However, illegal gambling activities provide criminal organizations money to finance violent and illicit activities.”
IRS Fear-Mongers With Criminal Case Example
The fear-mongering continued on this press release. The IRS mentioned the potential penalties for betting illegally on sports betting apps. The charges can range from money laundering to tax evasion.
They brought up the infamous Red44 case. For those not in the know, this involved a bookmaker that was using Costa Rican servers to take in bets. Welp, 11 different Americans were indicted by a federal grand jury in Birmingham, Alabama in the operation. The case won’t be heard in court until December or this year so we don’t know what exactly will happen. One thing is for sure: the IRS and courts want their tax money. They broke down the exact numbers in detail for us.
In 2019, the Red44 Organization reportedly earned a gross profit of $14,930,787 days the IRS. That should’ve amounted to $6,882,460 in taxes for the IRS. But things got better in 2020 when the world was stuck at home. Re444 had income of over $24 million this year — which would’ve amounted to more than $6 million here again. Income peaked at $36 million in. 2022 before things got shut down.
There’s 11 different defendants in the case, mostly from Birmingham. However, one of them — 36-year-old Joshua Gentrup — is from Athens, Georgia. He is being charged with six counts of tax evasion, one count of conspiring to operate an illegal sports-betting organization, one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, and two counts of money laundering.
What The IRS Fails To Mention
Notice something in the Red44 case? They were targeted the bookmaker operators themselves — not the actual bettors. Yes, operating a sportsbook in a state where betting is illegal is risky business. But betting on one is not the same thing.
This is a classic case of having bigger fish to fry. The IRS says that $700 million is spent illegally on sports betting. You’d imagine that’s coming from hundreds of thousands of bettors, right? The IRS isn’t going to investigate all these bettors and bring charges upon all of them — they don’t have the time or resources for that. Thus, they try to “cut the head of the snake” and target the operators.
What does this mean for you, a bettor in the state of Georgia? It means just about nothing. You can freely bet inside of the state without a real worry of criminal offenses. Just don’t accept bets and act as bookie to the tune of millions of dollars like Red44 and you’re perfectly in the clear.
Here, we’ll even recommend you our favorite international sportsbooks to bet on. Here’s our top-5 list in the whole market:
All five bookmakers above are ones we’ve personally used inside the state of Georgia. They work perfectly fine, and more than that, they are 100 percent safe.
Best Betting Sites 