“Ghanaians deserve honesty, not spin’”: Ex-NLA General slams govt’s ‘10% tax eradication’

The Ghana government’s announcement that it has scrapped the 10% tax on lottery winnings has been challenged by Sammi Awuku, Former Director-General of the National Lottery Authority (NLA).

Awuku, who was appointed to this role in 2021, argued in a Facebook post that the tax was never even implemented in the first place and the claim is merely “a convenient attempt to score political points”.

On Facebook, Awuku wrote: “First off, it is important to clarify that lottery is different from betting, and same with its taxes.”

He explained that the NLA is under the Ministry of Finance, while betting is regulated by the Gaming Commission under the Ministry of the Interior, expressing that this distinction matters, yet is often ignored for ‘political convenience’.

“After listening to today’s budget presentation by the Finance Minister, I couldn’t help but notice a rather misleading claim that the government has abolished the 10% lottery tax on winnings,” Awuku’s statement continued.

“But let’s be honest: how do you abolish a tax that was never implemented?”

During his tenure at the NLA, under the previous NPP administration, Awuku emphasised how the group engaged extensively with stakeholders, including the then finance minister and Hon. 

“Amin Adam and the GRA after the announcement of the proposed 10% tax on lottery wins and recognised early on that taxing lottery winnings would be problematic. It would have been difficult to administer, cripple the Lottery sector, unfair to players and ultimately more harmful than beneficial,” he added.

For these reasons, Awuku stressed that the tax was ‘never implemented nor enforced’.

He explained: “The truth is, the NPP government had already made the decision not to burden Ghanaians with this lottery tax because we understood its impact.

“Hon. Amin Adam won’t be wrong to say the Betting tax was never collected anyway since the Finance Minister Hon. Ato Forson also referred to the 10% on Lottery wins as ‘Betting Tax’. 

“So if that’s what the Finance Minister refers to as Betting tax then it was never implemented even though it passed in 2023.”

https://lotterydaily.com/2025/03/12/highlighted/ex-nla-general-tax-claim/

Awuku concluded that ‘Ghanaians deserve honesty, not spin’, and that policies should be about real impact, not just headlines.

https://lotterydaily.com/2025/03/12/highlighted/ex-nla-general-tax-claim/