Pius Hadzide, CEO of the National Youth Authority (NYA), has stated that, in addition to raising much-needed revenue for Government expenditure, the recently implemented 10% tax on all bet winnings is intended to discourage youth from betting, a venture known to be detrimental to youth productivity.
Mr Hadzide argued on Citi TV’s The Point of View programme Monday, August 21, that the tax is a fiscal measure aimed at protecting the youth from the devastating effects betting has on those who engage in it long term, defending it as an effective tool for curbing the rising addiction of the youth to gambling.
He stated that gambling is undermining valued Ghanaian values such as hard effort in respectable labour and honesty, as well as instilling in the youth a get-rich-quick mindset. The punitive charge is intended to dissuade young people from betting.
“We have been concerned about the increasing incidences of gambling that are affecting even the education of children. Our assessment is that when you go to many of these betting sites, you see young people in uniforms betting. We have developed the culture that the Ghanaian is known as one who is hardworking, one who is committed to decent work and honest work. Those are our values. This idea of young people attempting to get rich quickly is a dangerous path to chart for any country in the long term,” he stated.
He applauded the Akufo-Addo administration for listening to groups such as the NYA and taking strong efforts to make gaming less appealing to young people.
“So we have always advocated that the government should take steps to discourage gambling. We were looking at both legislative and fiscal measures, such as tax measures, to discourage and disincentivize people from indulging in excessive betting, especially now that our own research has indicated that the vast majority of the youth in our country are drifting into that area. In our view, it is a ticking time bomb. So we applaud the government because we have brought up this matter before past and present officers of state, and we are excited that the government is finally listening to us and implementing measures to disincentivize gambling,” he added.
The betting public has reacted angrily to the imposition of a 10% tax on all bet wins. According to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), it is a lazy tax designed to burden the unemployed who rely on it to exist.
