The Minister for Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, is determined to raise funds from betting tax for sports ministry projects.
The previous administration, led by former president His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, introduced a 10% tax on betting and lottery winnings to the utter dismay of Ghanaian youth.
As part of the campaign policies leading to the 2024 general elections, incumbent president, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, promised to scrap the tax in question.
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Minister for Finance, before, during, and after his ministerial vetting, maintained the president’s stance on dropping the tax.
However, in recent interviews, Hon. Kofi Adams’ statement on the government’s current position on the betting tax, he stated, “We are working on taking off the tax on the winnings, not the tax betting companies pay to the state,” leading to certain propagandists misconstruing his statement to align with their own purposes.
In an interview with Nana Darkwa Gyasi, Hon. Adams provided clarity on the betting tax and how he intends to use it for the sports fund.
“We made a promise that the betting tax, as it was called, limited to winnings, is going to go off, but every stake, even if you spend GHS 20 to stake, there is a tax on that GHS 20 that the company pays.
My argument is that in the sports fund that we intend to establish, tax on each stake would be put in the sports fund purposely for sports.
Whether you win or not, there’s a tax on your stakes, and it is that tax that I intend to convince parliament that a percentage of that being put aside for the sports fund so the sports ministry do not have to depend on the consolidated fund.”
The sports fund initiative by the Sports and Recreation Minister would be used to support less-financed federations, build standard facilities, and train sports professionals.
