Tax on winnings: two ways to get this wrong

This is the single most commonly wrong sentence written about betting in Ghana, and it is wrong in both directions, which is unusual.

What happened

A ten per cent withholding on gross winnings was introduced in 2023. Gross, not net: it applied to the winnings rather than to the profit, so a bettor who staked and won and lost across a season could pay tax on a losing year. It was repealed on 2 April 2025 under Act 1129.

So a licensed operator pays winnings in full today. That is the current answer and it has been the current answer for a little over a year.

Why the opposite is also wrong

Writing that gambling winnings in Ghana have always been untaxed, the way a page written for another market would say it, is false about every year a reader can actually remember. The tax existed, it was collected, and anybody describing a period before April 2025 has to say so. This is not a technicality: it is the difference between a page that knows this market and a page that was translated into it.

The operator copy that has not caught up

At least one bookmaker on this register still states a withholding rate on winnings in its own published terms, and the rate it states is not even the one that was repealed. An operator's terms are the authoritative document about the contract and are not authoritative about tax law, and where the two disagree on this site, the law wins and the discrepancy goes on the log.

What still exists

A tax on operators' gross gaming revenue. That is an obligation of the company rather than a deduction from a payout, and it does not reduce what a winning bettor receives.