{"id":229,"date":"2025-04-02T20:03:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T23:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/?p=229"},"modified":"2026-04-19T18:05:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:05:35","slug":"experts-sound-alarm-on-ghanas-decision-to-scrap-betting-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/experts-sound-alarm-on-ghanas-decision-to-scrap-betting-tax","title":{"rendered":"Experts sound alarm on Ghana’s decision to scrap betting tax"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The betting tax was established to boost revenue and curb excessive gambling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ghana.- President John Mahama<\/strong> of Ghana has abolished the betting tax<\/a> through a series of bills he signed into law on April 1. While this decision has been met with widespread applause, some experts have warned that it may come with unintended consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics, particularly the Institute of Economic Affairs<\/strong> (IEA), warn that the move could lead to potential revenue losses for the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the IEA, the betting tax, which charges a 10% withholding fee on all gaming winnings, was a substantial revenue stream for the government, and its removal may worsen Ghana’s fiscal difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An earlier study by KPMG<\/strong> lends credence to this concern, estimating that the government stands to lose around ghs 6.4 billion<\/strong> (\u20ac382.5m, $410m) in revenue if the betting tax, e-levy and covid-levy are abolished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IEA also cautions that the removal of the betting tax may lead to a rise in gambling, particularly among young people, which could result in gambling addiction and related social issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IEA argued that when the government introduced the betting tax in August 2023, it aimed to boost revenue and reduce excessive gambling. However, repealing the policy defeats these objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of the tax repeal contend that the betting tax does not effectively address the underlying causes of gambling addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government officials claim the move will relieve the financial strain on Ghanaian bettors, boost the gaming sector<\/strong> and attract investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the betting tax has been eliminated, one can expect gambling activity to surge in Ghana as the country’s betting market grows and attracts new international operators<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government can offset the social consequences of the tax repeal by implementing policies that promote responsible gaming, player protection and social welfare. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The betting tax was established to boost revenue and curb excessive gambling. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"President John Mahama of Ghana has abolished the 10% betting tax on gaming winnings, effective April 1. While proponents anticipate a boost to the domestic gaming sector and increased foreign investment, critics, including the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and KPMG, warn of significant government revenue losses and a potential surge in problem gambling.","focusai_entities":"John Mahama, Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA, KPMG","focusai_location":"Ghana","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.8), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (1.0), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Ghana Fiscal Impact","query":"What specific measures will the Ghanaian government implement to offset the projected GHS 6.4 billion revenue loss from the abolition of the betting tax, e-levy, and covid-levy?"},{"label":"Operator NGR Projections","query":"How will the removal of the 10% withholding tax on gaming winnings specifically impact the Net Gaming Revenue (NGR) projections and operational profitability for both incumbent and prospective international iGaming operators in Ghana?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60020,60012],"tags":[60037,60033,78],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-west-africa","tag-finance","tag-regulation","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229\/revisions\/261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}