Former Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has disclosed that the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration did not implement any betting tax in Ghana.
Speaking to the press after the presentation of the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the government Tuesday, March 11, 2025, he stated emphatically that the immediate administration led by William Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, did not implement the betting tax.
He stated that the government’s announcement of abolishing something which was never implemented is a means to deceive the public.
His comments come on the back of the Finance Minister’s announcement during the budget presentation in Parliament today, that the government was going to abolish the betting tax together with the Covid levy and the emissions levy as well as the e-levy.
“Ladies and gentlemen, betting tax, as they said they have abolished, we never implemented the betting tax, so to come and tell Ghanaians that you have abolished something we never implemented is to deceive the people of Ghana,” Amin Adam stated.
The previous government introduced a new measure that saw a 10% tax applied to betting and lottery winnings, effective Tuesday, August 13, 2024.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) outlined that this withholding tax will be automatically deducted at the point of pay-out for all betting, games, and lottery wins.
In cases where a game is cancelled and the player’s initial stake is refunded, or if the pay-out amount is equal to or less than the staked amount, the withholding tax will not be applicable.
To facilitate easy monitoring by the GRA, lottery operators were required to update their software to display the details of the amount staked, the winnings, and the tax withheld during pay-out.
As at today, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, the betting tax is still in operation and players of betting and lottery winnings are deducted a withholding tax. But the members of the previous administration are saying otherwise.
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