Spit in my face and tell me that you hate me
Posted by Christie Malry on February 17, 2011 at 12:40 pm
One of the stranger parts of today's Today programme was the business section. There was a geezer plugging his book about gambling, in which he documents how to make a living out of placing bets on things. He had had several notable successes, including tipping Spain to win the football world cup.
One of the more unpleasant parts of his interview was where he referred to what he called a "facespitter" bet. This is a win that's so large that you can go up to your boss and spit in his face. You'll lose your job, for sure, but can live off your winnings instead.
I found it rather alarming when he described how large a facespitter bet would be. £40,000. Even allowing for the fact that gambling winnings don't attract income tax (although, see below), this is a pitifully small amount of money. If used to buy a flat rate annuity, perhaps a silly thing to do in today's inflationary climate, it would generate £2,000 a year, or about £40 a week. Is that worth losing your job for?
Or perhaps he imagines he'll need a lot of facespitters in his lifetime. It's hardly a comfortable existence.
I save the old fashioned way, in shares, and I know precisely how much more I need to save before I can spit in my boss's face, not that I ever would. As of now, it's another £268,000. That's a lot of money, but it's broadly achievable. And a great deal more honest than some shyster exploiting people's financial illiteracy and claiming you can get by on less.
Oh, and I believe (would welcome confirmation from a tax expert) that HMRC will treat otherwise tax exempt income as taxable if it becomes your trade. So, gambling income ordinarily isn't taxed, but will be at the point at which you become a professional gambler. You were warned!
Written on my Android mobile phone. Article may be edited later.
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