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Ghana’s government says it has delivered on its commitment to abolish the 10 percent withholding tax on winnings from lottery and betting winnings, known as the “betting tax”.
The announcement was made in the 2025 budget speech presented by the minister for finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, on March 11. The speech did not include details of when the tax would be scrapped.
Scrapping the controversial 10 percent tax on players' winnings that was introduced in August 2023 is unsurprising considering how unpopular it was, but it does nevertheless come at a time when Ghana’s government is searching for other means of revenue.
“The state of the economy ... does not reflect an economy that has turned the corner,” Forson said during his speech to parliament.
"It reflects an economy in severe distress, burdened by debt repayment humps, mismanagement and a lack of accountability,” he said.
Ghana is in the process of restructuring its debt as part of the conditions to receive an International Monetary Fund (IMF) support programme. It has to pay back $8.7bn over the next four years, accounting for 10.9 percent of GDP, according to the minister.
The finance minister explained that scrapping the betting tax would cost the government around GHS180m ($11.61m).
The Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) of 1 percent will also be scrapped, amounting to a GHS1.9bn revenue shortfall. Gambling was already exempt from this.
“By reducing the ceiling on the tax refund from 6 percent to 4 percent, we will save GHS3.8bn. This amount is enough to close the revenue shortfall,” he said.
Ghana held a presidential election in December 2024, with many lawmakers promising to evaluate, reduce or scrap gambling taxes.
John Mahama, the current President and member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), told local media in November 2023 that if elected he would “look at the number of taxes” imposed on the industry, but would not commit to removing gambling taxes.
Mohammed Amin Adam, the former minister of finance and member of the opposition New Patriotic Party, challenged the government's announcement, claiming the NDC was carrying out “tax deception”.
“The tax applies to lottery wins and betting wins. What the minister said he is abolishing is the lottery wins, which knowingly or unknowingly he called it “betting tax”. We have never collected the tax on lottery wins so it cannot be abolished,” Adam said on social media shortly after the budget was announced.
