Dr. Opoku Challenges Ato’s GH¢10m Claim

A sharp disagreement has emerged over the actual financial benefits Ghana derives from its lottery industry, with Dr. Razak Kojo Opoku, a financial economist and founder of the UP Tradition Institute, rejecting claims by Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson that taxpayers are benefiting from the sector for the first time since 2018.

In a statement issued on the matter, Dr. Opoku, a former Public Relations Manager of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), described the Minister’s GH¢10 million dividend pronouncement as misinformation, insisting that Ghanaian taxpayers, through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the NLA, have consistently received far more substantial sums from KGL Technology Limited and other licensed operators.

According to Dr. Opoku, KGL alone paid over GH¢153 million to the GRA on April 16, 2026, for the 2025 financial year. In addition, the NLA received over GH¢173 million from KGL, bringing the operator’s total contribution to more than GH¢326 million in a single year.

He further disclosed that 29 other private lotto operators licensed by the NLA also paid GH¢44.9 million to the Authority in 2025, with many of them equally meeting their tax obligations to the GRA.

“The Finance Minister respectfully needs to get his facts right about the benefits Ghanaian taxpayers received from the lottery business,” Dr. Opoku stated. “It is NEVER TRUE that this is the first time the taxpayers are benefitting from lottery business since 2018.”

The financial economist did not stop at correcting the Minister’s figures. He raised pointed questions about the operational efficiency of the NLA itself, noting that while the Authority raked in GH¢173 million from KGL, only GH¢10 million found its way to the Ministry of Finance as dividends.

“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 charged.

He attributed the disparity to what he called wastage of financial resources at the NLA, pointing out that the Authority spends over 90 per cent of its income on its Good Causes Foundation and other corporate social responsibility activities, leaving precious little for the national purse.

“It does not make sense for NLA to use over 90% of its income on Good Causes Foundation & other CSR activities and pay only GH¢10 million dividend to the Ministry of Finance,” he said.

Dr. Opoku argued that the real issue is not necessarily about reviewing agreements, as the government has suggested, but about tackling the rampant wastage at the NLA.

“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,” he concluded.

The statement is expected to intensify the national conversation on the governance and financial transparency of Ghana’s lottery sector, particularly as the government pursues its resetting agenda.