Lotto tax now law

With the lottery winnings tax expected to be rolled out on tomorrow, several punters have said they would be placing smaller bets to avoid paying the tax.

In an advisory sent to lottery vendors and agents yesterday, the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) stated that “the law to enable the lottery winnings tax has been proclaimed and will commence Monday August 13, 2018.”

In last year’s budget, Government announced that it would impose a ten per cent lottery tax on all NLCB winnings $1,000 and over.

On August 3, the NLCB said the technology that would automatically deduct the taxes had been implemented before the legislation, section 9 of the Finance Act 2017, had been proclaimed by the Office of the President.

NLCB chairman Eustace Nancis, in a telephone interview yesterday, said the legislation had been proclaimed on Friday while paid advertisements would appear in the daily newspapers today advising that the tax would take effect from tomorrow. He said testing of the new system would take place on today as no on-line games were scheduled on Sundays.

Meanwhile, several Lotto booth operators in San Fernando said they had received the NLCB notification via email and were prepared for the tax. One Lotto operator at the Lucky Chance booth on St James Street, San Fernando said the new tax would create “real drama” with patrons as they seek to adjust their bets to avoid the tax.

“I don’t think this will affect bets but it will definitely affect how many bets they make.”

One customer, Leckchuddy Ramsumair said the tax was the latest move by Government to get money from the public.

“They shouldn’t tax the winnings because it already have so many taxes.” Asked if he would reduce his bets, he said this would definitely not affect him as he did not bet large sums and would keep his bets as small as possible.