By Al Edwards, Business Co-ordinatorTHE MINISTER of Finance and Planning Dr. Omar Davies' decision to remove the automatic 15 per cent tax on lottery winnings and instead introduce a $15,000 threshold after which the tax would apply, has resulted in an immediate increase in sales of lottery tickets for Supreme Ventures, says its president Brian George.
Speaking to Wednesday Busi-ness earlier this week, Mr. George said: "We have seen a discernible increase in sales from the Saturday before the Minister made his decision to remove the 15 per cent tax to last Saturday where a $15,000 threshold was imposed. We feel that the Minister took the right decision and punters will benefit."
Supreme Ventures Vice Presi-dent, Roger Williams, added: "The Minister's decision played its part in boosting sales but let's not forget that the Cash Pot numbers played on Friday were very popular and we paid out large sums in prizes which drove up sales.
"Average sales since the reconstructed tax is approximately 50 per cent higher than the daily average sales that existed previously."
Last year Supreme Ventures revenue figures stood at approximately $12 billion. At the close of this year it is reporting revenues of approximately $10 billion but makes it clear that most of that sum goes out in paying agents, the Government and prize money.
Since the imposition of the 15 per cent tax in September, sales of the popular Cash Pot game, run by Supreme Ventures', dropped from $970 million in August to $508 million by October.
Explaining the decision to change the tax structure on gaming Dr. Omar Davies said, "Although we intended to strengthen the regulatory framework and the policing of illegal betting, the reality is that from our experience, we have not been able to prevent the migration from the formal to the underground industry and it is within this context that we have decided to make an adjustment to the betting tax aimed particularly at the small betters who constitute a higher percentage of those who bet."
