The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) says it has generated ¢15m from the recently implemented betting tax within a month. According to GRA, they are expected to generate ¢60m before the football season ends.

“We have two streams of taxes: the gross revenue tax and the withholding tax. 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” the Commissioner in charge of DTRD, Edward Gyambra said.

As part of government’s effort to generate more revenue for development, government introduced 10% withholding tax on betting and lottery wins. This tool effect on Tuesday, 15th August, 2023.

Here is how the tax is being charged on bet wins.

The tax is not charged on the amount invested in staking or playing the games. It is only be charged on the profit you have made from it.
Example, if you deposited ¢10,000 into your bet account on 15th August, 2023 and won ¢50,000, tax will be charged on your profit, which is ¢40,000.

HOW IT IS DEDUCTED

The 10% tax on your profit will be deducted once you withdraw your money. If you choose to withdraw the whole ¢50,000, ¢4,000 will be deducted as tax.

There is however some worrying cases with this new tax system in some betting accounts. Some betting users who deposited money in their account before the 15th August, 2023 are being deducted tax even though they didn’t bet with such amount. They only deposited the money only for them to withdraw. They were deducted on their capital.

It will be recalled that in April, the government of Ghana announced plans to introduce taxes on all betting, games and lottery wins.

The new tax was widely criticised by young Ghanaians on social media, many of whom were involved in sports betting.

The betting industry in Ghana has seen tremendous growth in the last decade, leading to many betting companies setting up shop in the country.

In recent years, sports betting has often divided opinion among Ghanaians, with some quarters highlighting its effects on the youth.
Others also believe betting is legal and therefore cannot be described as a bad practice when no laws are broken.

The latest development follows the passage of the Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1094), which subjects all lottery wins to the withholding tax, to be deducted by the lottery operators and paid to the GRA.

In line with the law, the withholding tax deduction applies to winnings paid by private lotto operators of sports betting, casino operators, route operations (slot machines), marketing promotions, national lotto betting, remote interactive games operators, and others

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