By now, the entire poker community knows the identity of Isildur1. Viktor Blom first opened up about his identity to Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. It didn’t take long for Skatterverket, Sweden’s tax collecting agency, to target Blom for back taxes.
In 2006, Skatteverket, in an effort to recoup unreported taxes, began cracking down on poker players that live in Sweden but play on poker rooms outside of the European Union. Sweden has very harsh tax laws that make it almost impossible for poker players to make a living. Poker is in the same classification as a lottery in Sweden which may be taxed up to 30%. Pots are treated individually so every pot won online is taxed as if it were a lottery. To make matters worse, losses can only be deducted at about $15 per pot for “operating costs.”
Blom made headlines in 2009 when he played multi-million dollar poker games against the best players in the world on Full Tilt Poker. His adversaries included Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, and Brian Hastings. Counting only hands played on Full Tilt Poker, Blom may owe the Swedish government more than $149 million. Swedish tax agency spokespeople were unable to comment on Blom’s case (or even the existence of Blom’s case). Dag Hardyson, the National Project Manager for Skatterverket, said, “We don’t comment on any individual cases, either if there is an ongoing investigation or whether we intend to launch an investigation.”
Blom’s situation will be very interesting to follow with regards to poker law around the world. Blom will surely plead his case to the Swedish government with regards to poker winnings being taxed as lottery winnings. Be sure to keep up with the latest developments of this story and others on FlopTurnRiver.