Former Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam Antah, has clarified a statement he made about the previous administration’s implementation of betting tax.
He had earlier indicated that the Akufo-Addo administration never implemented the betting tax which the Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, had said will be abolished.
In his clarification, Dr. Adam averred that his party, whilst in power, only implemented taxes on bet and not on lottery winnings.
He, however, asserts his earlier comments about the matter remain accurate, insisting the current Finance Minister, Dr. Forson, misrepresented the matter whilst presenting the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
“I did not err. What you just read are my words,” Dr. Amin Adam stated firmly.
“I said that the betting tax they say they have abolished—qualified the word that—because the minister came to Parliament and said he’s going to abolish withholding tax on winnings from the lottery, otherwise known as betting tax as if to equate betting tax to winnings from the lottery.
“Meanwhile, in their manifesto, they said they were going to abolish a 10% withholding tax on bet winnings,” he said on Accra-based JoyNews Tuesday, March 17, 2025.
He explained that the tax on lottery winnings was never implemented under the NPP government, despite claims that it had been collected and later abolished.
“That’s what I’m saying, that it wasn’t implemented. And the minister came to Parliament and said that tax—otherwise known as betting tax.
“So my point was that while he’s calling it betting tax, that tax has not been collected. We never implemented that,” he emphasised.
When asked to state which tax was enforced by the NPP government, he said, “It was the tax on bet winnings. And that was why the minister was gracious enough to come back to Parliament and correct himself.
“He came back and said they promised to withdraw or to abolish taxes on bet winnings, and that is what he was laying the bill in Parliament.”
Dr. Adam pointed out that the withholding tax on bet winnings was implemented and not that of lottery winnings which the Finance Minister’s initial statement in Parliament conflicted.
“The withholding tax on winnings from betting was implemented, but the withholding tax on winnings from lotto was not implemented.
“So when you come to Parliament and say, winnings from lotto, and I know that it wasn’t implemented, and then you call that betting tax, I was challenging him on that,” he stated.
He stood by his claim that there was a fundamental misunderstanding in the way the current Finance Minister presented the issue, leading to unnecessary controversy.
“That is why I said that the betting tax they say they have abolished—which is that betting tax? The winnings from the lotto, which he referred to as a betting tax, was not collected. And that is a fact,” he stressed.
