By Francis Kobena Tandoh
Financial economist and former National Lottery Authority (NLA) Public Relations Manager, Dr. Razak Kojo Opoku, has challenged Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson’s claim regarding the GH¢10 million dividend paid by the NLA to government.
Dr. Opoku said the GH¢10 million dividend does not represent the full financial contribution from the lottery sector. He cited figures showing that KGL Technology Limited paid more than GH¢153 million to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in April 2026 for the 2025 financial year.
He further stated that more than GH¢173 million was paid through the NLA, bringing KGL’s combined payments to the state through the GRA and NLA to over GH¢326 million for 2025.
Dr. Opoku argued that it is therefore inaccurate to suggest that taxpayers had not benefited from the lottery business since 2018. He also noted that 29 other private lotto operators paid GH¢44.9 million in licence fees to the NLA in 2025.
He said the debate should distinguish between dividends, taxes, licence fees and other payments, while accusing the Finance Minister of presenting an incomplete picture of the state’s revenue from the lottery sector.
Dr. Opoku also criticised what he described as financial wastage at the NLA, arguing that greater attention should be paid to how the Authority manages its revenues rather than focusing solely on reviewing the NLA-KGL agreement. Enditem
Find the write-up of Dr. Razak Kojo Opoku below;
The Finance Minister respectfully needs to get his facts right about the benefits Ghanaian taxpayers received from the lottery business.
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.
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.
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. I sincerely believe that these 29 licensed private lotto operators equally pay taxes to the Ghana Revenue Authority(GRA).
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.
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.
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 used the money on needless internal operations and activities at the detriment of the taxpayers.
