Esports and Taxation

Esports is competitive computer gaming in tournaments with professional gamers, mostly using the internet (online), but sometimes at special organized events (offline).

Esports is becoming a major industry, as the top gamers around the world battle each other, which is creating a huge spectator sport and is, therefore, attracting bigger sponsors. Also the developers of the games have an interest in tournaments with considerable prize money, because this increases the status of their games and the sale to amateur users.

Esports is the collective term for a wide range of games. The games can be played on various websites and can be seen on Twitch.com, YouTube.com and other websites. There are hardly borders for esports, the games are most popular in the USA and Asia, but also in Europe and other places.

Betting games, such as poker, are not considered as esports because in these games not the capacities of the players but the luck of the draw is most influential on the result of the game.
This article will discuss which esports games exist; how they are played; which types of income are relevant for the various games; and what the tax consequences may be.