Woz wouldn't come out neutral here though, he'd come out $7500 in the hole. He wins $7500 but gives it all to his daughter, so now he's at $0. But he's still

Woz wouldn't come out neutral here though, he'd come out $7500 in the hole. He wins $7500 but gives it all to his daughter, so now he's at $0. But he's still paying (say) $3750 in income taxes on his daughter's behalf (since she's not old enough to even play Keno) and letting her keep the whole $7500 (nice guy!) Now he's $3750 in the hole already. But then he has to pay the gift tax (again, on the whole $7500, since that's what he gave her!), so let's say again that's another $3750. Now he's $7500 in the hole. Taxes aren't ultimately exactly 50% so it probably wouldn't be that bad, but it makes for simple calculations; and either way, he's guaranteed to be net negative. If instead he gifted only the after-tax proceeds to his daughter (which would be more reasonable), he would only be "down" $1875 after the gift tax, and even then he could just take that out of her gift, which would mean that she would only get $1875 in total (assuming 50% tax), and he would net $0. He's a nice guy for giving her the whole $7500 though.