A new game show is in the news for screwing a contestant. The show works by giving the contestant a million dollars to begin with and then the contestant bets certain amounts of it on being able to answer a question correctly.
It seems the contstants wagered $800,000.00 on the question "Which came first."
They bet their money on Post-it-notes the the show said the Walkman was the correct answer but it wasn't (maybe).
Some people are claimming the couple was cheated out of their money but the truth is, it's a game and they begZn the show with nothing. They did not lose anything.
If you start with zip and leave with zip, you have lost zip.
You can't cheat a person out of something that wasn't theirs to begin with, especially since that something was yours!
My question is, if the couple were given the million dollars to start the show with, then aren't they libel for the taxes on the money even though they eventual lost the money? In that case, they should be given back the $800,000.00 they lost on that question.
The whole thing seems trite to begin with but it really isn't. If the money, the million dollars, they were given to begin the show with was really theirs to keep or lose, then it becomes income at that point and they owe taxes on it, and it doesn't matter if they lose it in the next 15 or twenty minutes to the people who gave itto them. It is still taxable income.
If the show had gave them the money under the stipulation that they had to play the game, then after they were asked a question the contestants said they refused to bet, could they have taken the million dollars and left? If so, the money is taxable because it is income.
If the answer is no, then they have not lost anything. They had fun.
Shut up and go away.
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