By Elham Salifu
The Finance Minister’s recent assertions regarding taxpayer benefits from the lottery sector have come under heavy fire, with a leading industry expert describing the official stance as factually incorrect and misleading.
Dr. Razak Opoku, a prominent industry expert, challenged claims that taxpayers are only now beginning to see tangible returns from the lottery business since 2018. Speaking on the actual financial contributions of key operators, Dr. Opoku presented figures detailing substantial payments made to state coffers in recent years.
“The Finance Minister respectfully needs to get his facts right about the benefits Ghanaian taxpayers received from the lottery business,” Dr. Opoku stated. “Ghanaian taxpayers, through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), received over GH¢ 153 million from KGL on April 16, 2026, for the 2025 financial year alone. Again, taxpayers, through the National Lottery Authority (NLA), benefited from over GH¢ 173 million from KGL.”
Dr. Opoku further highlighted that contributions extend beyond major digital operators to include smaller market participants across the country.
“For the records, other 29 private lotto operators licensed by National Lottery Authority (NLA) also paid GH¢ 44.9 million to the NLA in 2025,” he noted. “I sincerely believe that these 29 licensed private lotto operators equally pay taxes to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).”
Addressing the discrepancy between total funds collected by the NLA and the actual figures remitted to the central government, Dr. Opoku pointed to internal spending inefficiencies within the authority rather than issues with existing operator agreements. He called on the Ministry to scrutinize how revenues are utilized internally before dismissing the sector’s historical tax contributions.
“As Finance Minister, he needs to be interested in understanding how the NLA received GH¢ 173 million from KGL, while the Ministry of Finance received only GH¢ 10 million in dividends from the NLA,” Dr. Opoku urged. “Therefore, strictly speaking, the Finance Minister has engaged in misinformation on this particular subject matter. It is NEVER TRUE that this is the first time the taxpayers are benefitting from lottery business since 2018.”
Concluding his analysis, Dr. Opoku argued that tackling institutional waste must be the central priority for the government moving forward.
“The major problem of NLA is wastage of financial resources. It does not make sense for NLA to use over 90% of its income on Good Causes Foundation & other CSR activities and pays only GH¢ 10 million dividend to the Ministry of Finance,” Dr. Opoku asserted.
“It is not necessarily about reviewing of agreements but it is about tackling wastage of financial resources at the NLA as a resetting government. The more NLA receives, the more they use the money on needless internal operations and activities at the detriment of the taxpayers.”
