WSOP Payouts Good for State Coffers

Even though the seven-digit numbers won by the final nine at the World Series of Poker sound like a dream, it's not all so pink, as the winners will have to part from a significant share of their prizes and give them to the IRS. Namely, it was calculated by Las Vegas tax consultant Russ Fox that Greg Merson's first prize of $8.53 million will be reduced to just $4,838,327 as he will have to pay a massive $3,693,526 in federal and state taxes, which include self-employment tax ($247,424), state income tax to Maryland ($469,252) and federal income tax ($2,976,850). Then, the runner up Jesse Sylvia will deduct around $2 million from the $5,295,149 pay check and significantly contribute to the total of some $10 million the US tax authorities will get from the eight US final tablers. On the other side, the only non-US player at the final table, Hungarian Andras Koroknai, will keep most of his $1.6 million prize.