Italian Bracelet Winner Accused of Tax Evasion Over €1.5 Million in Poker Winnings
Italian officials are accusing poker pro and World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Enrico Camosci of tax evasion related to over €1.5 million in poker earnings.
Several Italian news and poker outlets covered the accusations against Camosci, who is from Bologna, Italy, including Assopoker.
Assopoker reported on Monday that Camosci faced a tax audit and was later accused of failing to disclose live and online poker winnings by the Bologna Metropolitan Operations Unit of the Fiamme Gialle, which is the sports department of Italy's financial police force, Guardia di Finanza.
According to Start Magazine, the omitted €1.5 million in income stems from professional poker winnings and is therefore classifiable as income of self-employment obtained outside of the European Union.
The outlet further stated that income obtained outside the EU must be declared since it is not subject to withholding tax.
Read More About Enrico Camosci
Accomplished Poker Pro in Hot Water
Despite his lack of a Hendon Mob page, 31-year-old Camosci is one of Italy's most accomplished poker players with $974,675 in WSOP earnings across just 25 cashes.
Camosci won his first and only WSOP bracelet in the GGPoker/WSOP $2,100 No-Limit Hold'em Bounty Championship in 2020 for $327,319. He came close to surpassing that score three years later with a seventh-place finish in the WSOP Online International $10,300 GGMillion$ for $323,515.
Camosci has also had success on the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT). In February 2024, the Italian defeated Steve O'Dwyer heads-up to win a 25,000 High Roller at EPT Paris for $488,117.
Though he is from Bologna, Camosci told PokerNews after his bracelet victory that he plays on GGPoker in Malta due to the ring-fencing and heavy regulations of online poker in Italy.
"I moved away from my country due to market restrictions as I wanted to compete with a wider field on international sites," he said. "I've spent almost three years in Malta before moving to Mexico, in Playa del Carmen. There's a really simple reason behind my choice: I grind online tournaments and timings are way better on the other side of the world. Especially for someone who plays MTTs, life is way better here, as keeping a good biorhythm in Europe is really difficult. Poker players are like vampires as you may know and having a different time zone helped me out a lot."
Assopoker noted that Camosci's tax residency in Bologna between 2019 and 2023 "is being contested," given that he says he was living in Malta.
A translated excerpt from the articles states that "In tax matters, in fact, the burden of proof falls on the player. In the event that the Italian poker player were able to demonstrate his foreign residence, all disputes would fall before any tax commission."
Camosci referred Assopoker to his lawyers when asked for comment. Camosci did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PokerNews.
Camosci is active on social media and regularly posts poker content for his more than 8,200 Instagram followers. He last posted on Instagram five weeks ago on March 25.
