Sometimes it seems like there's no end to the ways that Ghanaians express their lack of faith in the state. One of my favorites is the illegal lottery, which I like to think of as an underground lottery.
These lotteries are bankrolled by a boss who never gets directly involved with the business on the ground. He employs agents who roam neighborhoods and collect numbers and wagers from customers. Underground lottos pay out according to the numbers selected by the official lottery, and customers with winning tickets redeem them with the agents for cash.
Of course, there is always the risk that if you buy a winning ticket, the agent will dodge you and you won't get paid, so people who play these lotteries stick with agents that they have known for a long time. On the other hand, winnings are available immediately, not after a long wait, and agents don't deduct taxes.
I'm just curious. Why wouldn't people play national lottery? If they win, will they make more winning money than if they win from national lottery? do they have to pay some fees to agents in order to receive money? I wonder if the Ghanaian government defines this activity as a gambling and have some restrictions about it.
ReplyDeleteIf you play the official lottery, the government will take a long time to pay you and they will tax your winnings, much like the American lottery. Honest agents shouldn't extract any extra fees from the customer, the ticket is the only thing that the customer has to pay for. These underground lotteries are completely illegal in Ghana.
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