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Akuapem North MP and former CEO of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), Sammy Awuku, has strongly refuted the claim that the government has abolished a 10% tax on lottery winnings.
In a Facebook post, he argued that the tax was never implemented in the first place, making its supposed abolition a misleading political move.
Awuku began by clarifying a common misconception: “A lottery is different from betting, and so are their taxes. The National Lottery Authority (NLA) falls under the Ministry of Finance, while betting is regulated by the Gaming Commission under the Ministry of the Interior. This distinction matters, yet it’s often ignored for political convenience.”
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This distinction became a focal point following Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson’s presentation of the 2025 Budget Statement, where he announced the abolition of several taxes, including those on betting and electronic transactions.
Awuku criticised the announcement, questioning the legitimacy of the government’s claim.
“After listening to today’s budget presentation, I couldn’t help but notice a rather misleading claim that the government has abolished the 10% lottery tax on winnings. But let’s be honest: how do you abolish a tax that was never implemented?”
He explained that during the previous NPP administration, extensive consultations were held with stakeholders, including then-Finance Minister Hon. Mohammed Amin Adam and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
“We recognised early on that taxing lottery winnings would be problematic. It would have been difficult to administer, cripple the lottery sector, be unfair to players, and ultimately be more harmful than beneficial. That is why the tax was never implemented nor enforced.”
Awuku argued that the government’s announcement was a strategic move to score political points rather than a genuine policy shift.
“So, let’s call it what it is. This isn’t an ‘abolition’ but rather a convenient attempt to score political points. The truth is, the NPP government had already made the decision not to burden Ghanaians with this lottery tax because we understood its impact.”
He also pointed out inconsistencies in the terminology used by Finance Minister Ato Forson:
“Hon. Amin Adam won’t be wrong to say the betting tax was never collected anyway since the Finance Minister also referred to the 10% on lottery wins as ‘betting tax.’ If that’s what he means, then it was never implemented even though it was passed in 2023.”
Awuku’s comments came shortly after former Finance Minister and NPP MP Mohammed Amin Adam also denied claims that his administration ever enforced the controversial tax. Speaking at a press conference organised by the minority, Amin Adam challenged the credibility of the government’s announcement.
“Betting tax that they said they have abolished—we never collected betting tax. So to come and tell Ghanaians that you have abolished something that you have not implemented is to deceive the people of Ghana,” he asserted.
The betting tax, introduced under the previous government, imposed a 10% withholding tax on winnings from sports betting and lotteries.
However, amid backlash from industry players and the public, Amin Adam insists that it was never operationalised before he left office.
The controversy has also reignited discussions around the NPP’s campaign promises. During the party’s manifesto launch in Takoradi on August 18, 2024, then-presidential candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia vowed to scrap both the betting tax and the E-Levy if elected.
“We’ll also reduce withholding tax for small-scale gold exports to 1% to curb smuggling and abolish the betting tax,” Bawumia promised.
Now that the budget has formally declared the tax abolished, the debate over whether it was ever enforced in the first place remains a contentious issue in Ghana’s political landscape. Sammy Awuku and other critics insist that this is less about policy change and more about political optics.
Beyond the back-and-forth, the debate underscores a larger issue: transparency and accountability in tax policy. Ghanaians, Awuku emphasised, “deserve honesty, not spin. Policies should be about real impact, not just headlines. Let’s focus on the issues that truly affect livelihoods.”
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