History of Gambling in Ghana

Ghana is a West African country with a total population of over 31 million people currently. Compared to 6.7 million people in 1960, the population in Ghana has continued to increase rapidly as it is with most African nations.

More than 17.2 million people are adults, and this is the number from which Ghana draws its gambling community. Gambling is legal in Ghana, and there are various forms of gambling that are legitimate and available in their gambling facilities. These are lotteries, sports betting, and casino gambling and, online gambling. Accra, the capital city of Ghana, is the pinnacle of all gaming activities as it hosts world-class Casinos and Casino resorts, with state of the art gaming facilities. Owing to the increasing accessibility of smartphones and cheap internet, there has been an incredible rise in the online gambling sector in Ghana. This country draws a more significant percentage of its gamblers from the tourism sector. This is because Ghana has a variety of Flora and Fauna as well as picturesque landscapes that attract tourists into the country. Ghana had been a British colony from 1874 until 1957 when they gained independence as the first black African country to do so. This period marked the genesis of Ghanaian independent lawmaking. In 1992 Ghana’s current constitution was drafted. The legal age for gambling was placed at 18 years and above.

Advent of Casinos

The very first casino in Ghana was established in 2003 in December within the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel and named after the host hotel as the La Palm Casino. Other casinos have been opened since then. These include the Golden Dragon Casino, Piccadilly Casino, to mention just a few. The government regulates gambling in these casinos through the Gaming Commission of Ghana. As stipulated in 2006 by the Gaming Act (721), this commission is responsible for supervising gaming activities, regulation, and licensing of gaming facilities and gambling operators in the country.

History of Lottery

The first Ghanaian lottery was established in 1958 by the Department of National lotteries and given the responsibility of organizing raffle tickets for the citizens to buy and have fun while winning prizes. The first lottery draw in Ghana for the Fixed Odds Lottery took place in 1962, September 29th. This involved picking 5/90 to win the draw. The Lotto and Betting Act that was established in 1960, legalized the running of lotteries in the country to earn revenue through levies to boost the country’s economy. The latest development saw the birth of the National Lottery Commission through the passing of the National Lotto Act 722. The lottery involved buying manual coupons with the lottery numbers which gamblers were required to provide when claiming the prize. The manual coupons were later replaced in 1979 by the mechanized tickets due to their inefficiencies. The mechanized cards gave gamblers the chance to choose their five lucky numbers (5/90), as opposed to earlier when gamblers used to buy coupons with a random combination. Currently, the national lottery is available online, and players get to select their combinations to acquire an electronic ticket.

How Sports Gambling in Ghana Came About

Football betting is the most popular form of sports betting in Ghana since, famous international football stars such as Samuel Kuffour, Abdi Pele and Tony Yeboah are citizens of Ghana by birth. This has fueled the increased growth in the sports betting niche since 2006 when sports betting was legalized in the country. Sports betting is regulated by the Gambling Commission of Ghana as stipulated in the Gaming Act 721, of 2006. Following the increased accessibility to fast and cheap internet, online sports betting has taken over with numerous bookmakers opening sites for football betting for the gambling community of Ghana.

 

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1 thought on “History of Gambling in Ghana

  1. Sports betting is regulated by the Gaming Commission of Ghana. They issue license for operation as well.
    Sports betting is not only limited to smartphone usage/online but also they have shops that allows pundits to stake bets.

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