Finland's top court lets professional bettor deduct betting losses

Finland's Supreme Administrative Court has ruled in favour of professional bettor Antti Koivula in a tax dispute that ran for more than five years, according to SBC News.

Koivula, who has bet professionally for over a decade and is also Chief Compliance Officer at Hippos ATG operator, had argued that his losing bets should count as costs against his betting income for tax purposes.

In 2020 he staked around €366,000 and won back approximately €497,000, a net profit of roughly €41,000. Finnish tax authorities had assessed his bets individually rather than as a whole, meaning his losing wagers could not be treated as costs offsetting his winnings.

Koivula told Finnish outlet Nettipokeri that this approach could have left him facing a tax bill of around €166,000 on a profit of €41,000. "I certainly had to look into where I could get a loan. There was financial pressure," he said, adding, "I am not a millionaire, nor am I financially independent. I have three small children and support my family."

The Supreme Administrative Court has now sided with him. Announcing the result on LinkedIn, Koivula wrote: "The tax bear is down!" He added that the case "concerned my personal income taxation and determined the tax treatment of professional bettors in Finland — both now and going forward," calling it a ruling that "matters."

Koivula told Nettipokeri there were no fixed criteria such as defined working hours, stake sizes or income thresholds for his activity to count as income-generating for tax purposes. "The ruling states that I clearly fell within the scope of the criteria. It does not specify exactly where the line should be drawn," he said.

According to Koivula, the court weighed the decade-long duration of his betting, its systematic nature, his expertise in betting markets, and the economic importance of the activity to his livelihood. "An income-generating activity does not necessarily have to be one's main source of income; the overall picture is what counts," he said.

Joonas Karhu, a lawyer at Huhtikuu, said the practical effect is that stakes from losing bets can now be deducted from taxable betting winnings, along with travel expenses between home and the place of work. He noted, however, that the court stopped short of classifying betting as a business activity under Finland's Business Income Tax Act.

Koivula told Nettipokeri the ruling could benefit professional bettors once Finland's regulated betting market opens in July 2027, as it may offer a legal precedent for how future tax disputes over betting income are resolved.

SBC News said it had contacted Koivula for further comment.