In many ways, professional athletes of traditional sports have already been navigating this practice for decades. Like gamers, professional golfers are self-employed and impose many of the same tax implications on the income they receive during their career. Jordan Spieth, for example, was only nineteen years old when he won the 2013 John Deere Classic, earning over $800,000 in prize money for his efforts. Like a competitive gamer, he accrued expenses for travel, accommodations, equipment, etc., all of which can create deductions on the amount of taxes he owed to the IRS on that income. When accounted for correctly, these deductions can lead to massive tax savings over the course of a career for a professional athlete, regardless of whether they prefer a four-iron or gaming controller as their instrument of choice.
