Betting, lottery wins to attract 10% tax effective August 15

With effect from August 15, 2023, winnings from lotteries, casinos, and marketing-related raffles will be subject to a 10% tax.

The development comes after the Income Tax (Amendment) Act of 2023 (Act 1094), which requires all lottery winnings to be subject to a withholding tax that must be deducted by the lottery operators and paid to the GRA.

This means that a 10% withholding tax, which will be regarded as a final tax, will be applied to the gross gains from all betting, gaming, lotteries, and other games of chance.

A 20 percent withholding tax will also be applied to the gross gaming revenue (GGR), which is the sum made up of all bets less winnings.

According to the law, earnings paid by private lotto operators of sports betting, casino operators, route operations (slot machines), marketing promotions, national lotto betting, remote interactive game operators, and other games of chance are eligible for the withholding tax deduction.

In the early phases of implementing the taxation on lottery operators, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) hopes to raise roughly GHC1.2 billion, with a rise to about GHC3 billion following the initial stages.

Operators that don’t comply, according to the GRA, will have their licenses revoked with the help of the Ghana Gaming Commission.

This was disclosed by Edward Gyambrah, Commissioner of the Domestic Tax Revenue Division of the GRA, at a meeting with the media in Accra.