Merits and demerits of scraping betting tax

 Dear Editor,

Over the past years, a lot of concerns have been raised about the rise of sports betting companies in the country, their opera­tions, and how it impacted negatively on the youth of the country.

I have also witnessed how some of the youth go to the extent of borrowing money from friends or use compa­nies’ money to stake bets, which they were not guaran­teed of winning.

Due to this, I was happy when the previous govern­ment introduced the betting tax, as I felt it would deter the youth from engaging in it.

However, some Ghanaians hold the view that the bet­ting tax would help create employment.

It wasn’t surprising to see the excitement that greeted the announcement of the scrapping of the tax by the Finance Minister.

My worry now is how, as a country, the youth can be discouraged from engaging in betting.

I believe that as the bet­ting tax has been scrapped, it is about time that the government finds ways of addressing the issue of bet­ting among the youth as it is becoming more serious than before.

I believe that there should be a multi-stakeholder en­gagement between the var­ious stakeholders to proffer solutions to address them.