480 U.S.

23
107 S.Ct. 980
94 L.Ed.2d 25

COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Petitioner

v.
Robert P. GROETZINGER.
No. 85-1226.
Argued Dec. 8, 1986.
Decided Feb. 24, 1987.

Syllabus
For most of 1978, respondent devoted 60 to 80 hours per week to
parimutuel wagering on dog races with a view to earning a living from
such activity, had no other employment, and gambled solely for his own
account. His efforts generated gross winnings of $70,000 on bets of
$72,032, for a net gambling loss for the year of $2,032. Although he
reported this loss on his 1978 tax return, he did not utilize it in computing
his adjusted gross income or claim it as a deduction. Upon audit, the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue determined that, under the Internal
Revenue Code of 1954 (Code) as it existed in 1978, respondent was
subject to a minimum tax because part of the gambling loss deduction to
which he was entitled was an "ite[m] of tax preference." Under the Code,
such items could be lessened by certain deductions that were "attributable
to a trade or business carried on by the taxpayer." In redetermining
respondent's tax deficiency, the Tax Court held that he was in the "trade or
business" of gambling, so that no part of his gambling losses was an item
of tax preference subjecting him to a minimum tax for 1978. The Court of
Appeals affirmed.
Held: A full-time gambler who makes wagers solely for his own account
is engaged in a "trade or business" within the meaning of Code 162(a)
and 62(1). Pp.27-36
771 F.2d 269 (CA7 1985), affirmed.
BLACKMUN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which
BRENNAN, MARSHALL, POWELL, STEVENS, and O'CONNOR, JJ.,

joined. WHITE, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which REHNQUIST,

C.J., and SCALIA, J., joined, post, p. ---.
Albert G. Lauber, Jr., Washington, D.C., for petitioner.
Carroll Baymiller, Peoria, Ill., for respondent.
Justice BLACKMUN delivered the opinion of the Court.

The issue in this case is whether a full-time gambler who makes wagers solely
for his own account is engaged in a "trade or business," within the meaning of
162(a) and 62(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, 26
U.S.C. 162(a) and 62(1) (1976 ed. and Supp. V).1 The tax year with which
we here are concerned is the calendar year 1978; technically, then, we look to
the Code as it read at that time.

* There is no dispute as to the facts. The critical ones are stipulated. See App. 9.
Respondent Robert P. Groetzinger had worked for 20 years in sales and market
research for an Illinois manufacturer when his position was terminated in
February 1978. During the remainder of that year, respondent busied himself
with parimutuel wagering, primarily on greyhound races. He gambled at tracks
in Florida and Colorado. He went to the track 6 days a week for 48 weeks in
1978. He spent a substantial amount of time studying racing forms, programs,
and other materials. He devoted from 60 to 80 hours each week to these
gambling-related endeavors. He never placed bets on behalf of any other
person, or sold tips, or collected commissions for placing bets, or functioned as
a bookmaker. He gambled solely for his own account. He had no other
profession or type of employment.2

Respondent kept a detailed accounting of his wagers and every day noted his
winnings and losses in a record book. In 1978, he had gross winnings of
$70,000, but he bet $72,032; he thus realized a net gambling loss for the year of
$2,032.

Respondent received $6,498 in income from other sources in 1978. This came
from interest, dividends, capital gains, and salary earned before his job was
terminated.

On the federal income tax return he filed for the calendar year 1978 respondent
reported as income only the $6,498 realized from nongambling sources. He did
not report any gambling winnings or deduct any gambling losses.3 He did not

itemize deductions. Instead, he computed his tax liability from the tax tables.
6

Upon audit, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue determined that

respondent's $70,000 in gambling winnings were to be included in his gross
income and that, pursuant to 165(d) of the Code, 26 U.S.C. 165(d), a
deduction was to be allowed for his gambling losses to the extent of these
gambling gains. But the Commissioner further determined that, under the law
as it was in 1978, a portion of respondent's $70,000 gambling-loss deduction
was an item of tax preference and operated to subject him to the minimum tax
under 56(a) of the Code, 26 U.S.C. 56(a) (1976 ed.). At that time, under
statutory provisions in effect from 1976 until 1982, "items of tax preference"
were lessened by certain deductions, but not by deductions not "attributable to a
trade or business carried on by the taxpayer." 57(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A), and
62(1), 26 U.S.C. 57(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A), and 62(1) (1976 ed. and Supp. I).4

These determinations by the Commissioner produced a 56(a) minimum tax of

$2,142 and, with certain other adjustments not now in dispute, resulted in a total
asserted tax deficiency of $2,522 for respondent for 1978.

Respondent sought redetermination of the deficiency in the United States Tax

Court. That court, in a reviewed decision, with only two judges dissenting, held
that respondent was in the trade or business of gambling, and that, as a
consequence, no part of his gambling losses constituted an item of tax
preference in determining any minimum tax for 1978. 82 T.C. 793 (1984). In so
ruling, the court adhered to its earlier court-reviewed decision in Ditunno v.
Commissioner, 80 T.C. 362 (1983). The court in Ditunno, id., at 371, had
overruled Gentile v. Commissioner, 65 T.C. 1 (1975), a case where it had
rejected the Commissioner's contention (contrary to his position here) that a
full-time gambler was in a trade or business and therefore was subject to selfemployment tax.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed. 771 F.2d
269 (1985). Because of a conflict on the issue among Courts of Appeals,5 we
granted certiorari. 475 U.S. 1080, 106 S.Ct. 1456, 89 L.Ed.2d 714 (1986).

II
10

The phrase "trade or business" has been in 162(a) and in that section's
predecessors for many years. Indeed, the phrase is common in the Code, for it
appears in over 50 sections and 800 subsections and in hundreds of places in
proposed and final income tax regulations. The slightly longer phrases,

"carrying on a trade or business" and "engaging in a trade or business,"

themselves are used no less than 60 times in the Code. The concept thus has a
well-known and almost constant presence on our tax-law terrain. Despite this,
the Code has never contained a definition of the words "trade or business" for
general application, and no regulation has been issued expounding its meaning
for all purposes.6 Neither has a broadly applicable authoritative judicial
definition emerged.7 Our task in this case is to ascertain the meaning of the
phrase as it appears in the sections of the Code with which we are here
concerned.8
11

In one of its early tax cases, Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., 220 U.S. 107, 31 S.Ct.
342, 55 L.Ed. 389 (1911), the Court was concerned with the Corporation Tax
imposed by 38 of the Tariff Act of 1909, ch. 6, 36 Stat. 112-117, and the
status of being engaged in business. It said: " 'Business' is a very
comprehensive term and embraces everything about which a person can be
employed." 220 U.S., at 171, 31 S.Ct., at 357. It embraced the Bouvier
Dictionary definition: "That which occupies the time, attention and labor of
men for the purpose of a livelihood or profit." Ibid. See also Helvering v. Horst,
311 U.S. 112, 118, 61 S.Ct. 144, 147, 85 L.Ed. 75 (1940). And Justice
Frankfurter has observed that "we assume that Congress uses common words in
their popular meaning, as used in the common speech of men." Frankfurter,
Some Reflections on the Reading of Statutes, 47 Colum.L.Rev. 527, 536
(1947).

12

With these general comments as significant background, we turn to pertinent

cases decided here. Snyder v. Commissioner, 295 U.S. 134, 55 S.Ct. 737, 79
L.Ed. 1351 (1935), had to do with margin trading and capital gains, and held, in
that context, that an investor, seeking merely to increase his holdings, was not
engaged in a trade or business. Justice Brandeis, in his opinion for the Court,
noted that the Board of Tax Appeals theretofore had ruled that a taxpayer who
devoted the major portion of his time to transactions on the stock exchange for
the purpose of making a livelihood could treat losses incurred as having been
sustained in the course of a trade or business. He went on to observe that no
facts were adduced in Snyder to show that the taxpayer "might properly be
characterized as a 'trader on an exchange who makes a living in buying and
selling securities.' " Id., at 139, 27 S.Ct., at 739. These observations, thus, are
dicta, but, by their use, the Court appears to have drawn a distinction between
an active trader and an investor.

13

In Deputy v. Du Pont, 308 U.S. 488, 60 S.Ct. 363, 84 L.Ed. 416 (1940), the
Court was concerned with what were "ordinary and necessary" expenses of a
taxpayer's trade or business, within the meaning of 23(a) of the Revenue Act

of 1928, 45 Stat. 799. In ascertaining whether carrying charges on short sales of

stock were deductible as ordinary and necessary expenses of the taxpayer's
business, the Court assumed that the activities of the taxpayer in conserving and
enhancing his estate constituted a trade or business, but nevertheless disallowed
the claimed deductions because they were not "ordinary" or "necessary." 308
U.S., at 493-497, 60 S.Ct., at 366-368. Justice Frankfurter, in a concurring
opinion joined by Justice Reed, did not join the majority. He took the position
that whether the taxpayer's activities constituted a trade or business was "open
for determination," id., at 499, 60 S.Ct., at 369, and observed:
14

" '. . . carrying on any trade or business,' within the contemplation of 23(a),
involves holding one's self out to others as engaged in the selling of goods or
services. This the taxpayer did not do. . . . Without elaborating the reasons for
this construction and not unmindful of opposing considerations, including
appropriate regard for administrative practice, I prefer to make the conclusion
explicit instead of making the hypothetical litigation-breeding assumption that
this taxpayer's activities, for which expenses were sought to be deducted, did
constitute a 'trade or business.' " Ibid.

15

Next came Higgins v. Commissioner, 312 U.S. 212, 61 S.Ct. 475, 85 L.Ed. 783
(1941). There the Court, in a bare and brief unanimous opinion, ruled that
salaries and other expenses incident to looking after one's own investments in
bonds and stocks were not deductible under 23(a) of the Revenue Act of
1932, 47 Stat. 179, as expenses paid or incurred in carrying on a trade or
business. While surely cutting back on Flint's broad approach, the Court
seemed to do little more than announce that since 1918 "the present form [of
the statute] was fixed and has so continued"; that "[n]o regulation has ever been
promulgated which interprets the meaning of 'carrying on a business' "; that the
comprehensive definition of "business" in Flint was "not controlling in this
dissimilar inquiry"; that the facts in each case must be examined; that not all
expenses of every business transaction are deductible; and that "[n]o matter
how large the estate or how continuous or extended the work required may be,
such facts are not sufficient as a matter of law to permit the courts to reverse the
decision of the Board." 312 U.S., at 215-218, 61 S.Ct., at 477-478. The opinion,
thereforealthough devoid of analysis and not setting forth what elements, if
any, in addition to profit motive and regularity, were required to render an
activity a trade or businessmust stand for the propositions that full-time
market activity in managing and preserving one's own estate is not embraced
within the phrase "carrying on a business," and that salaries and other expenses
incident to the operation are not deductible as having been paid or incurred in a
trade or business.9 See also United States v. Gilmore, 372 U.S. 39, 44-45, 83
S.Ct. 623, 626-627, 9 L.Ed.2d 570 (1963); Whipple v. Commissioner, 373 U.S.

193, 83 S.Ct. 1168, 10 L.Ed.2d 288 (1963). It is of interest to note that,

although Justice Frankfurter was on the Higgins Court and this time did not
write separately, and although Justice Reed, who had joined the concurring
opinion in Du Pont, was the author of the Higgins opinion, the Court in that
case did not even cite Du Pont and thus paid no heed whatsoever to the content
of Justice Frankfurter's pronouncement in his concurring opinion.10 Adoption of
the Frankfurter gloss obviously would have disposed of the case in the
Commissioner's favor handily and automatically, but that easy route was not
followed.
16

Less than three months later, the Court considered the issue of the deductibility,
as business expenses, of estate and trust fees. In unanimous opinions issued the
same day and written by Justice Black, the Court ruled that the efforts of an
estate or trust in asset conservation and maintenance did not constitute a trade or
business. City Bank Farmers Trust Co. v. Helvering, 313 U.S. 121, 61 S.Ct.
896, 85 L.Ed. 1227 (1941); United States v. Pyne, 313 U.S. 127, 61 S.Ct. 893,
85 L.Ed. 1231 (1941). The Higgins case was deemed to be relevant and
controlling. Again, no mention was made of the Frankfurter concurrence in Du
Pont. Yet Justices Reed and Frankfurter were on the Court.

17

Snow v. Commissioner, 416 U.S. 500, 94 S.Ct. 1876, 40 L.Ed.2d 336 (1974),
concerned a taxpayer who had advanced capital to a partnership formed to
develop an invention. On audit of his 1966 return, a claimed deduction under
174(a)(1) of the 1954 Code for his pro rata share of the partnership's operating
loss was disallowed. The Tax Court and the Sixth Circuit upheld that
disallowance. This Court reversed. Justice Douglas, writing for the eight
Justices who participated, observed: "Section 174 was enacted in 1954 to dilute
some of the conception of 'ordinary and necessary' business expenses under
162(a) (then 23(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939) adumbrated by
Mr. Justice Frankfurter in a concurring opinion in Deputy v. Du Pont . . . where
he said that the section in question . . . 'involves holding one's self out to others
as engaged in the selling of goods or services.' " 416 U.S., at 502-503, 94 S.Ct.,
at 1877-1878. He went on to state, id., at 503, 94 S.Ct., at 1878, that 162(a)
"is more narrowly written than is 174."

18

From these observations and decisions, we conclude (1) that, to be sure, the
statutory words are broad and comprehensive (Flint ); (2) that, however,
expenses incident to caring for one's own investments, even though that
endeavor is full time, are not deductible as paid or incurred in carrying on a
trade or business (Higgins; City Bank; Pyne ); (3) that the opposite conclusion
may follow for an active trader (Snyder ); (4) that Justice Frankfurter's
attempted gloss upon the decision in Du Pont was not adopted by the Court in

that case; (5) that the Court, indeed, later characterized it as an "adumbration"
(Snow ); and (6) that the Frankfurter observation, specifically or by implication,
never has been accepted as law by a majority opinion of the Court, and more
than once has been totally ignored. We must regard the Frankfurter gloss
merely as a two-Justice pronouncement in a passing moment and, while entitled
to respect, as never having achieved the status of a Court ruling. One also must
acknowledge that Higgins, with its stress on examining the facts in each case,
affords no readily helpful standard, in the usual sense, with which to decide the
present case and others similar to it. The Court's cases, thus, give us results, but
little general guidance.
III
19

Federal and state legislation and court decisions, perhaps understandably, until
recently have not been noticeably favorable to gambling endeavors and even
have been reluctant to treat gambling on a parity with more "legitimate" means
of making a living. See, e.g., 4401 et seq. of the Code; Marchetti v. United
States, 390 U.S. 39, 44-46, and nn. 5 and 6, 88 S.Ct. 697, 701-702, and nn. 5
and 6, 19 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).11 And the confinement of gambling-loss
deductions to the amount of gambling gains, a provision brought into the
income tax law as 23(g) of the Revenue Act of 1934, 48 Stat. 689, and carried
forward into 165(d) of the 1954 Code, closed the door on suspected abuses,
see H.R.Rep. No. 704, 73d Cong., 2d Sess., 22 (1934); S.Rep. No. 558, 73d
Cong., 2d Sess., 25 (1934), but served partially to differentiate genuine
gambling losses from many other types of adverse financial consequences
sustained during the tax year. Gambling winnings, however, have not been
isolated from gambling losses. The Congress has been realistic enough to
recognize that such losses do exist and do have some effect on income, which is
the primary focus of the federal income tax.

20

The issue this case presents has "been around" for a long time and, as indicated
above, has not met with consistent treatment in the Tax Court itself or in the
Federal Courts of Appeals. The Seventh Circuit, in the present case, said the
issue "has proven to be most difficult and troublesome over the years." 771
F.2d, at 271. The difficulty has not been ameliorated by the persistent absence
of an all-purpose definition, by statute or regulation, of the phrase "trade or
business" which so frequently appears in the Code. Of course, this very
frequency well may be the explanation for legislative and administrative
reluctance to take a position as to one use that might affect, with confusion, so
many others.

21

Be that as it may, this taxpayer's case must be decided and, from what we have

outlined above, must be decided in the face of a decisional history that is not
positive or even fairly indicative, as we read the cases, of what the result
should be. There are, however, some helpful indicators.
22

If a taxpayer, as Groetzinger is stipulated to have done in 1978, devotes his fulltime activity to gambling, and it is his intended livelihood source, it would
seem that basic concepts of fairness (if there be much of that in the income tax
law) demand that his activity be regarded as a trade or business just as any other
readily accepted activity, such as being a retail store proprietor or, to come
closer categorically, as being a casino operator or as being an active trader on
the exchanges.

23

It is argued, however, that a full-time gambler is not offering goods or his

services, within the line of demarcation that Justice Frankfurter would have
drawn in Du Pont. Respondent replies that he indeed is supplying goods and
services, not only to himself but, as well, to the gambling market; thus, he says,
he comes within the Frankfurter test even if that were to be imposed as the
proper measure. "It takes two to gamble." Brief for Respondent 3. Surely, one
who clearly satisfies the Frankfurter adumbration usually is in a trade or
business. But does it necessarily follow that one who does not satisfy the
Frankfurter adumbration is not in a trade or business? One might well feel that
a full-time gambler ought to qualify as much as a full-time trader,12 as Justice
Brandeis in Snyder implied and as courts have held.13 The Commissioner,
indeed, accepts the trader result. Tr. of Oral Arg. 17. In any event, while the
offering of goods and services usually would qualify the activity as a trade or
business, this factor, it seems to us, is not an absolute prerequisite.

24

We are not satisfied that the Frankfurter gloss would add any helpful dimension
to the resolution of cases such as this one, or that it provides a "sensible test," as
the Commissioner urges. See Brief for Petitioner 36. It might assist now and
then, when the answer is obvious and positive, but it surely is capable of
breeding litigation over the meaning of "goods," the meaning of "services," or
the meaning of "holding one's self out." And we suspect thatapart from
gamblingalmost every activity would satisfy the gloss.14 A test that everyone
passes is not a test at all. We therefore now formally reject the Frankfurter
gloss which the Court has never adopted anyway.

25

Of course, not every income-producing and profit-making endeavor constitutes

a trade or business. The income tax law, almost from the beginning, has
distinguished between a business or trade, on the one hand, and "transactions
entered into for profit but not connected with . . . business or trade," on the
other. See Revenue Act of 1916, 5(a), Fifth, 39 Stat. 759. Congress

"distinguished the broad range of income or profit producing activities from

those satisfying the narrow category of trade or business." Whipple v.
Commissioner, 373 U.S., at 197, 83 S.Ct., at 1171. We accept the fact that to be
engaged in a trade or business, the taxpayer must be involved in the activity
with continuity and regularity and that the taxpayer's primary purpose for
engaging in the activity must be for income or profit. A sporadic activity, a
hobby, or an amusement diversion does not qualify.
26

It is suggested that we should defer to the position taken by the Commissioner

and by the Solicitor General, but, in the absence of guidance, for over several
decades now, through the medium of definitive statutes or regulations, we see
little reason to do so. We would defer, instead, to the Code's normal focus on
what we regard as a common-sense concept of what is a trade or business.
Otherwise, as here, in the context of a minimum tax, it is not too extreme to say
that the taxpayer is being taxed on his gambling losses,15 a result distinctly out
of line with the Code's focus on income.

27

We do not overrule or cut back on the Court's holding in Higgins when we

conclude that if one's gambling activity is pursued full time, in good faith, and
with regularity, to the production of income for a livelihood, and is not a mere
hobby, it is a trade or business within the meaning of the statutes with which
we are here concerned. Respondent Groetzinger satisfied that test in 1978.
Constant and large-scale effort on his part was made. Skill was required and
was applied. He did what he did for a livelihood, though with a less-thansuccessful result. This was not a hobby or a passing fancy or an occasional bet
for amusement.

28

We therefore adhere to the general position of the Higgins Court, taken 46

years ago, that resolution of this issue "requires an examination of the facts in
each case." 312 U.S., at 217, 61 S.Ct., at 478. This may be thought by some to
be a less-than-satisfactory solution, for facts vary. See Boyle, What is a Trade
or Business?, 39 Tax Lawyer 737, 767 (1986); Note, The Business of Betting:
Proposals for Reforming the Taxation of Business Gamblers, 38 Tax Lawyer
759 (1985); Lopez, Defining "Trade or Business" Under the Internal Revenue
Code: A Survey of Relevant Cases, 11 Fla.St.U.L.Rev. 949 (1984). Cf.
Comment, Continuing Vitality of the "Goods or Services" Test, 15
U.Balt.L.Rev. 108 (1985). But the difficulty rests in the Code's wide utilization
in various contexts of the term "trade or business," in the absence of an allpurpose definition by statute or regulation, and in our concern that an attempt
judicially to formulate and impose a test for all situations would be
counterproductive, unhelpful, and even somewhat precarious for the overall
integrity of the Code. We leave repair or revision, if any be needed, which we

doubt, to the Congress where we feel, at this late date, the ultimate
responsibility rests. Cf. Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258, 269-285, 92 S.Ct. 2099,
2105-2113, 32 L.Ed.2d 728 (1972). 16
29

The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.

30

It is so ordered.

31

Justice WHITE, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Justice SCALIA join,
dissenting.

32

The 1982 amendments to the Tax Code made clear that gambling is not a trade
or business. Under those amendments, the alternative minimum tax base equals
adjusted gross income reduced by specified amounts, including gambling
losses, and increased by items not relevant here. See 26 U.S.C. 55(b), 55(e)
(1)(A), 165(d) (1982 ed. and Supp. III).1 If full-time gambling were a trade or
business, a full-time gambler's gambling losses would be "deductions . . .
attributable to a trade or business carried on by the taxpayer," and hence
deductible from gross income in computing adjusted gross income, 26 U.S.C.
62(1), though only to the extent of gambling winnings, 26 U.S.C. 165(d). To
again subtract gambling losses (to the extent of gambling winnings) from
adjusted gross income when computing the alternative minimum tax base
would be to give the full-time gambler a double deduction for alternative
minimum tax purposes, which was certainly not Congress' intent.2 Thus, when
Congress amended the alternative minimum tax provisions in 1982, it
implicitly accepted the teaching of Gentile v. Commissioner, 65 T.C. 1 (1975),
that gambling is not a trade or business.3 Groetzinger would have had no
problem under the 1982 amendments.

33

One could argue, I suppose, that although gambling is not a trade or business
under the 1982 amendments, it was in 1978, the tax year at issue here. But
there is certainly no indication that Congress intended in 1982 to alter the status
of gambling as a trade or business. Rather, Congress was correcting an inequity
that had arisen because gambling is not a trade or business, just as 40 years
earlier Congress had, by enacting the predecessor to 26 U.S.C. 212, corrected
an inequity that became apparent when this Court held that a full-time investor
is not engaged in a trade or business. See Higgins v. Commissioner, 312 U.S.
212, 61 S.Ct. 475, 85 L.Ed. 783 (1941). In neither case did Congress attempt to
alter the then-prevailing definition of trade or business, nor do I think this Court
should do so now to avoid a harsh result in this case.4 In any event, the Court
should recognize that its holding is a sport that applies only to a superseded

statute and not to the tax years governed by the 1982 amendments.
Accordingly, I dissent.

All references herein to the Internal Revenue Code are to the 1954 Code, not to
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as it has been designated by 2(a) of the
Tax Reform Act of 1986, 100 Stat. 2095.

The Tax Court put it this way: "It is not disputed that petitioner during 1978
was engaged fulltime in parimutuel wagering on dog races, had no other
employment during that period, gambled solely for his own account, and
devoted an extraordinary amount of time and effort to his gambling with a view
to earning a living from such activity." 82 T.C. 793, 795 (1984).

Respondent, however, did report his net gambling loss of $2,032 in Schedule E
(Supplemental Income Schedule) of his return, but he did not utilize that
amount in computing his adjusted gross income or claim it as an itemized
deduction.

This statutory scheme was amended by the Tax Equity and Fiscal
Responsibility Act of 1982, 201(a), 96 Stat. 411. For tax years after 1982,
gambling-loss deductions explicitly are excluded from the minimum tax base.
The Commissioner acknowledges that a taxpayer like respondent for a year
after 1982 would not be subject to minimum tax liability because of his
gambling-loss deduction. Brief for Petitioner 4, n. 4.

Compare Nipper v. Commissioner, 746 F.2d 813 (CA11 1984), aff'g, without
opinion, 47 TCM 136, 83,644 P-H Memo TC (1983), and the Seventh
Circuit's decision in the present case, with Gajewski v. Commissioner, 723 F.2d
1062 (CA2 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 818, 105 S.Ct. 88, 83 L.Ed.2d 35
(1984); Estate of Cull v. Commissioner, 746 F.2d 1148 (CA6 1984), cert.
denied, 472 U.S. 1007, 105 S.Ct. 2701, 86 L.Ed.2d 717 (1985); and Noto v.
United States, 770 F.2d 1073 (CA3 1985), aff'g, without opinion, 598 F.Supp.
440 (NJ 1984).
Despite the interim reversals by the Second and Sixth Circuits in Gajewski and
Cull, supra, the Tax Court has adhered to its position that a full-time gambler is
engaged in a trade or business. See, e.g., Meredith v. Commissioner, 49 TCM
318, 84,651 P-H Memo TC (1984); Barrish v. Commissioner, 49 TCM 115,
84,602 P-H Memo TC (1984). It has drawn no distinction between the gambler
and the active market trader. See also Baxter v. United States, 633 F.Supp. 912
(Nev.1986).

Some sections of the Code, however, do define the term for limited purposes.
See 355(b)(2), 26 U.S.C. 355(b)(2) (distribution of stock of controlled
corporation); 502(b) and 513(b), 26 U.S.C. 502(b) and 513(b) (exempt
organizations); and 7701(a)(26), 26 U.S.C. 7701(a)(26) (defining the term
to include "the performance of the functions of a public office").

Judge Friendly some time ago observed that "the courts have properly assumed
that the term includes all means of gaining a livelihood by work, even those
which would scarcely be so characterized in common speech." Trent v.
Commissioner, 291 F.2d 669, 671 (CA2 1961).

We caution that in this opinion our interpretation of the phrase "trade or

business" is confined to the specific sections of the Code at issue here. We do
not purport to construe the phrase where it appears in other places.

See, however, 212 of the 1954 Code, 26 U.S.C. 212. This section has its
roots in 23(a)(2) of the 1939 Code, as added by 121 of the Revenue Act of
1942, 56 Stat. 819. It allows as a deduction all the ordinary and necessary
expenses paid or incurred "for the management, conservation, or maintenance
of property held for the production of income," and thus overcame the specific
ruling in Higgins that expenses of that kind were not deductible. The statutory
change, of course, does not read directly on the term "trade or business."
Obviously, though, Congress sought to overcome Higgins and achieved that
end.

10

Deputy v. Du Pont, 308 U.S. 488, 60 S.Ct. 363, 84 L.Ed. 416 (1940), however,
was cited by the parties in their Higgins briefs submitted to this Court. See
Brief for Petitioner 28, 29, 40, and 61, and Brief for Respondent 17 and 18, in
Higgins v. Commissioner, O.T. 1940, No. 253.

11

Today, however, the vast majority of States permit some form of public
gambling. The lottery, bingo, parimutuel betting, jai alai, casinos, and slot
machines easily come to mind.

12

"It takes a buyer to make a seller and it takes an opposing gambler to make a
bet." Boyle, What is a Trade or Business?, 39 Tax Lawyer 737, 763 (1986).

13

Levin v. United States, 220 Ct.Cl. 197, 205, 597 F.2d 760, 765 (1979);
Commissioner v. Nubar, 185 F.2d 584, 588 (CA4 1950), cert. denied, 341 U.S.
925, 71 S.Ct. 796, 95 L.Ed. 1357 (1951); Fuld v. Commissioner, 139 F.2d 465,
468-469 (CA2 1943). See also Moller v. United States, 721 F.2d 810 (CA
Fed.1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1251, 104 S.Ct. 3534, 82 L.Ed.2d 839 (1984);
Purvis v. Commissioner, 530 F.2d 1332, 1334 (CA9 1976).

14

Each of the three cases in conflict with the Seventh Circuit's decision in the
present case, see n. 5, supra, was a gambler's case and adopted the Frankfurter
gloss. Because the same courts, in cases not involving gamblers, have not
referred to the Frankfurter gloss, see Bessenyey v. Commissioner, 379 F.2d 252
(CA2), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 931, 88 S.Ct. 293, 19 L.Ed.2d 283 (1967);
Gestrich v. Commissioner, 681 F.2d 805 (CA3 1982), aff'g, without opinion, 74
T.C. 525 (1980); Main Line Distributors, Inc. v. Commissioner, 321 F.2d 562
(CA6 1963), it would appear that these courts in effect were creating a special
class of, and with special rules for, the full-time gambler. We find no warrant
for this in the Code.

15

"The more he lost, the more minimum tax he had to pay." Boyle, 39 Tax
Lawyer, at 754. The Commissioner concedes that application of the goods-orservices-test here "visits somewhat harsh consequences" on taxpayer
Groetzinger, Brief for Petitioner 36, and "points to . . . perhaps unfortunate
draftsmanship." Ibid. See also Reply Brief for Petitioner 11.

16

It is possible, of course, that our conclusion here may subject the gambler to
self-employment tax, see 1401-1403 of the Code, and therefore may not be an
unmixed blessing for him. Federal taxes, however, rest where Congress has
placed them.

All references are to the Code as it stood prior to the 1986 amendments.

Consider two single individuals filing for the tax year ending December 31,
1986: A has $75,000 in nongambling income, and $75,000 in itemized
nongambling deductions; B, a full-time gambler, has $75,000 in gambling
winnings, $75,000 in gambling losses, $75,000 in nongambling income, and
$75,000 in itemized nongambling deductions. A's gross income and adjusted
gross income are both $75,000, and so is his alternative minimum tax base. The
alternative minimum tax assessed on A is 20% of the excess of $75,000 over
$30,000, see 26 U.S.C. 55(a), 55(f)(1)(B), or $9,000. Assuming that fulltime gambling is a trade or business, B has gross income of $150,000, adjusted
gross income of $75,000 (because his gambling losses are attributable to a trade
or business), and an alternative minimum tax base of zero (because gambling
losses are deducted from adjusted gross income in computing the alternative
minimum tax base). Thus, if full-time gambling were treated as a trade or
business, B's gambling losses would shield him against the $9,000 minimum
tax that Congress clearly intended him to pay. "The Code should not be
interpreted to allow [a taxpayer] 'the practical equivalent of a double deduction,'
Charles Ilfeld Co. v. Hernandez, 292 U.S. 62, 68, 54 S.Ct. 596, 598, 78 L.Ed.
1127 (1934), absent a clear declaration of intent by Congress." United States v.
Skelly Oil Co., 394 U.S. 678, 684, 89 S.Ct. 1379, 1383, 22 L.Ed.2d 642 (1969).

There is no such clear declaration of intent accompanying the 1982

amendments.
3

The Commissioner had acquiesced in Gentile. See 1980-2 Cum. Bull. 1, 4, n.

39.

While the consequences of accepting the Commissioner's position in this case

may be harsh to the respondentwhich is no doubt why Congress amended the
relevant Code provisions in 1982I find the Court's characterization of the
result as a tax on gambling losses, ante, at 35, somewhat misleading. If
gambling is not a trade or business, the practical effect of the minimum tax on
tax preference items is to reduce the deduction allowed for gambling losses
from an amount equal to 100% of gambling winnings to some lesser percentage
of gambling winnings.