By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Data from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) reveals that the Akufo-Addo administration did implement the 10% betting withholding tax, countering former Finance Minister Mr. Mohammed Amin Adam’s claim that the previous government did not enforce the tax.
For instance, the Domestic Tax Revenue Division of GRA in October 2023 said it generated GH¢15 million from the bet tax within the first month the tax was implemented.
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Also, the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration in 2024 said the government raked in GHS1.2 billion in revenue from the betting tax.
A quote attributed to Mr. Edward Gyambra, the Commissioner in charge of DTRD, in connection with implementing the Betting tax states: “During the first month of implementation, we averaged GH¢20 million for the GGR. As for the withholding tax, we’ve just started the betting season, but during the lean season, we averaged GH¢15 million. We anticipate this to quadruple by May.”
By introducing the 10% withholding tax on betting, the GRA’s goal was to raise approximately GH¢400 million to bolster government revenue.
To further demonstrate that the former Finance Minister Amin Adam and Member of Parliament (MP) for Karaga Constituency misrepresented the facts during his interview with the media, immediately after the current Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, presented the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Parliament on March 11, 2025, some patrons of sports betting took to social media to criticize the former Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, for claiming that the previous NPP administration did not implement the betting tax.
In light of Dr. Amin Adam’s claims, some Ghanaians who have experienced deductions from their betting winnings have raised concerns about the whereabouts of the deducted taxes, calling for a prompt investigation into the matter.
They have urged a thorough probe into the previous government’s handling of the revenue generated from the 10% betting withholding tax.
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