Govt yet to implement 10% tax on betting – Sammi Awuku
The Director General of the National Lottery Authority, Sammi Awuku, has asserted that the government has not implemented the 10% tax on betting.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in 2023 notified sporting and lottery companies of the 10% tax on all winnings from sports betting and lotteries which was effective August 15.
This formed part of the government’s efforts to expand the tax base and increase domestic revenue.
It first came to light when Parliament passed three new bills on March 2023.
They were the Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022.
Five months after passing the bills, the GRA alerted individuals who partake in these gaming activities to be conscious of this new policy and do as expected.
There was a huge public backlash that met the announcement of the implementation of the 10% tax on all winning from sports betting and lotteries as some Ghanaian sports fans were worried about the decision and its potential impact on their earnings.
But speaking to Oyerepa TV, the Director-General of the National Lotteries Authority, Sammi Awuku disclosed that his outfit is yet to implement the tax almost a year after it coming into force as the framework guiding it has been difficult.
“…Even with that, the truth of the matter is that we have not been able to implement it. I am telling you today. As I sit here as the Director-General for National Lotteries, I have not been able to implement it. Because, first of all, we have a wide market of illegal market. So you don’t even know them for you to go and tax them. So, we had a sit down meeting with the GRA, we have been having correspondence over the last eight months, and with the Ministry of Finance. Even recently when the NLA was forcing the known private lotto operators to come so that we license them, you heard the heat on the street.
“Now that you have license them, you can now go back to them, and have preparation that what the government planned to introduce, how do we collectively still support government, make sure we don’t kill the business, make sure you survive, NLA survives and still generates enough for government. This for me is where we are,” Sammi Awuku said.
He said not a single cedi has been collected as tax from betting.
“We haven’t been able to collect even a cedi. As I sit here, I have not been able to collect the tax. They wrote to me that as Director-General, I am to collect the tax. I have not been able to collect the tax because the framework was difficult. We are still in discussion with GRA and the Ministry of Finance on the modality because the truth is that first we didn’t even know them. We just licensed them two weeks ago. Even with that one, it is estimated that we have about 380 illegal operators who are still unknown.”
