As of the 15th of August, 2023, there will be a 10% tax applied to lottery, casino, and marketing promotional raffle winnings.
This means that a final tax of 10% will be withheld from all gross gains from gambling, lotteries, and other games of chance.
In addition, a withholding tax of 20% will be applied to Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR), which is the sum of all wagers minus payouts.
In the first phase of enforcing taxes on lottery operators, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) expects to collect almost GH1.2 billion.
After the initial phases, tax revenue mobilization is projected to reach around GH3 billion.
This newest change is the result of the Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1094), which mandates that a withholding tax of 30 percent be withheld from all lottery winnings and remitted to the GRA.
Payouts from private lotto operators of sports betting, casinos, route operations (slot machines), marketing campaigns, national lotto betting, remote interactive games, and other games of chance are subject to the required withholding tax reduction in accordance with the legislation.
This was announced by Edward Gyambrah, commissioner of the GRA’s Domestic Tax Revenue Division, in an Accra meeting with editors from select media outlets on Monday.
The head of the Ghana Association of Sport Betting Operators attended the event, which was held to clarify policy efforts and bring the media up to speed on initiatives being undertaken by the GRA.
Sanctions
According to Mr. Gyambrah, all lottery operators must pay the Authority 10% of the tax withheld from players’ gross wins.
All lottery operators must update their systems so that the amount wagered or staked, the amount won, and the tax withheld are all clearly displayed and saved so that the Act may be effectively implemented and administered.
He stated that sports betting, private lotto operations, and others were expected to begin on Tuesday, while some operators in the business, such as casinos, route operations, and marketing campaigns, began implementation of the regulation on June 1 of this year.
Mr. Gyambrah warned that the Gaming Commission of Ghana will back the removal of licenses from operators who did not comply.
He explained that this was done as part of the GRA’s (the government agency in charge of revenue mobilization) efforts to increase domestic revenue.
Given that “Ghana’s total tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is very low compared to that of others in the sub-region,” Mr. Gyambrah argued that “it was important to boost domestic tax revenue mobilisation.”
He went on to say that the authority has already implemented a number of new policies, such as the introduction of an electronic Value Added Tax (VAT) system, an electronic tax clearance certificate, an upfront payment system for imported goods, an excise tax stamp, and the reinstatement of vehicle income tax payments.
