Alex Appau Dadey, Executive Chairman of KGL Group
Mr Alex Appau Dadey, the Executive Chairman of KGL Group has disclosed how his organization fought against the introduction of lottery taxes.
During a one-one-one interview on TV3’s Business Focus, he disclosed that the KGL Group engaged the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and other authorities to prove to them that the move was wrong.
According to him, it was so because it prevents people from investing in bet and using the digital way of growing the economy.
Mr Dadey expressed worry over how some youth will be forced to engage in illegal betting due to the introduction of the taxes on the legitimate ones.
“When I give you an example of the lottery space, for instance, we worked so hard to bring it to this level, and taxing it means reversing the gains of it. Who’s going to pay? We will go back to illegal lottery”. He warned.
It would be recalled that in 2023, the NPP government introduced a 10% withholding tax on betting and lottery winnings which ignited public discontent.
This new tax subjected betting companies to a 20% withholding tax on gross gaming revenue. This measure was part of the government’s efforts to expand the tax base and increase domestic revenue.
The decision fueled public disgruntlement as well as doubts over whether it could have a significant economic impact.
However, a few weeks ago, in an interview with Oyerepa TV, Sammi Awuku, the Director General of the National Lottery Authority(NLA), revealed that his office is yet to implement the tax, nearly a year after it was introduced, due to challenges with the framework guiding the process.
