Again, there is no real reason for 99% of the posters here to declare themselves as PROFESSIONAL, even if they make money year in and year out.
1. You will be paying self-employment/social security tax.
2. You will increase your chance of an audit 20 fold.
3. Yes, you can deduct things such as office space, travel, supplies, etc.,etc.......but there are other ways to do this without declaring yourself a professional (ways that are way to complicated and personal to discuss in a public forum).
Again, a semi-detailed diary of your gambling ventures is the best route for most of you here................YOU DO NOT NEED RECIEPTS, LOST TICKETS, ETC, to prove your losses............a semi-detailed diary is all you need for the IRS.
Include such things as......date, type of bet, casino/sportsbook, wager, won or lost, etc., etc.
At the end of the year, add up all your WINS in the WIN column and report on line 21.............add up all your LOSES and deduct them on schedule A...............thus you have your NET win reported.
For example, if you netted say $70,000 for the year, you may have something like $300,000 in WINS on line 21 and $230,000 in deductible gambling losses on schedule A.
This is all very simple really.
AGAIN, DISCUSS THIS WITH A GOOD TAX ADVISOR. ONLY YOU AND HIM ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS IN THE LONG RUN...............AND MAINLY YOU.
EVERYBODYS TAX SITUATION IS DIFFERENT and may require them to do something different.
However, for the majority of posters that consistantly win here, the above way which I stated will work very well for them.