I've been self employed since 2007 but for the last 3 years I have been living off savings from previous businesses and it's during that time that I got into betting & trading.

Now my savings are starting to run dangerously low and I would like to be able to claim Universal Credit but because any kind of betting activity isn't taxed in the UK, could I even say I was self employed?

I do this full time, and treat it like a business but of course there's no tax to pay, nothing to declare so I don't do accounts like I have with my previous businesses.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Has anyone tried to either claim any kind of benefits whilst trading or actually declared their betting / trading activity as a business?

@mrs-h-m-price I declared earnings a few times when needed, for mortgages.

I think benefits have a cut off if you have 16k in savings (may have changed) or your partner works. Not something I have looked into but may be worth looking up the official criteria.