10% bet winning tax will make gambling unappealing for youth – Pius Hadzide

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Pius Enam Hadzide, has disclosed the authority’s excitement about the 10% tax on betting and lottery winnings introduced by the government.

He believes that this act would discourage gambling, especially by the youth and that the tax is necessary to deter the youth from gambling, because it is dangerous for any country to have its youth fixated on gambling.

“We have been concerned about the increasing incidences of gambling that is 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 quick is a dangerous path to chart for any country in the long term,” he said.

According to him, they have always advocated that the government should take steps to discourage gambling and were looking at both legislative and physical 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.