The Director General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), Sammy Awuku, has revealed that the 10% tax on betting winnings, announced by the government, has not yet been enforced. Despite the mandate given to the NLA to collect this tax, operational challenges have delayed its implementation.

Speaking on Oyerepa TV, Awuku explained that the fragmented nature of the betting industry, particularly the prevalence of illegal markets, has made it difficult to enforce the policy.

"The truth and reality of that is that we haven't been able to implement it. I am telling you today, we haven't been able to implement it. As the Director General for National Lottery, I haven't been able to because first of all we have a very wide system of illegal markets so you don't even know them for you to go tax them so we had a sit down meeting with Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)."

He further explained that discussions are ongoing with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance to establish a framework that will facilitate the effective implementation of the tax policy.

"We haven't been able to even collect a cedi. As I sit here as the Director General I was written to, to take the 10 percent on tax bettings but I am unable to. I am unable to because the framework is difficult so I haven't taken anything from people's bet winnings because we are still in discussions with GRA and Ministry of Finance for the modalities because the truth is we didn't even know them."

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) announced that it will begin implementing a 10% withholding tax on all gross gaming winnings from August 15, 2023.

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 revenue authority, lottery operators are required to update their software to display the details of the amount staked, the winnings, and the tax withheld during pay-out.

GRA Commissioner Edward Gyambrah has stated that the new tax is part of efforts to boost domestic revenue collection, noting that Ghana's tax-to-GDP ratio remains low compared to other countries in the region.

Watch video below:

🚨ICYMI🇬🇭👊🏾🗣️: “Government hasn’t been able to implement the 10% tax policy on betting; we haven’t been able to collect a cedi…” - Sammi Awuku, Director General of the National Lotteries Authority-📹: @oyerepaofficial 🦅🇬🇭 pic.twitter.com/arYJdQUa1P— Ölele | DTS👨🏾‍🍳🇬🇭 (@OleleSalvador) September 16, 2024