Kitchen Gas Appliances - Gas dryer & H2O heater

I am moving into a new house and the previous owner only had an electric dryer. Last year, I bought a new gas dryer and I want to use it in the new house. Next to the dryer, there is a gas hot water heater. Can I "splice" the main gas line so that it feeds both the water heater and my dryer? If so, is this something that is easily done myself or should a pro do it?
Tks,
Brian

Possibly. Someone will have to do an approximate gas flow calculation to see if this is possible. The diameter of the branch line, the distance of the branch from the meter, The diameter of the main line, the max loading of all the gas appliances in the house and the gas demand of the dryer and water heater will determine if it is possible or not.

I'm not sure if the gas code prohibits splicing a branch line like this since most installations usually have their own branch line from the main. Provided it is correctly sized I cannot see a problem. Both appliances will require their own shutoff - this is required by code.

You can certainly do the work yourself. However, unless you are familiar with the procedues for testing for gas leaks and working with gas lines I would leave it to a qualified person - especially if flow calcs are involved.