Ghana Betting Payment Methods

Is online betting legal in Ghana?

Yes, under licence. The Gaming Act, 2006 (Act 721), assented to on 22 December 2006, created the Gaming Commission of Ghana (GCG) to regulate, control, monitor and supervise games of chance. Section 32 says that “a person shall not carry out gaming and betting except in accordance with this Act”, and taking part in or providing facilities for unlawful gaming carries a fine of up to 500 penalty units or up to two years in prison. The Act does not mention the internet; the Commission licenses online betting through its own categories, listed in its 2025 licence requirements: land-based sports betting (licence US$40,000, annual operational fee US$50,000), online sports betting (US$300,000 for a partly Ghanaian-owned company, US$100,000 for a wholly Ghanaian-owned one, renewal US$50,000), hybrid sports betting, online casino and remote interactive games. A licensee must be partly or wholly Ghanaian owned and keep an identifiable office in Ghana.

The Commission publishes the list of licensees. The 2026 list, issued on 1 January 2026 and running to 31 December 2026, holds 20 sports betting licences, 9 online sports betting licences, 3 combined online and land-based licences and 20 online casino licences. Six of the 49 bookmakers below are on it: 1xBet, 22Bet, Betano, Betway, Betwinner and Melbet. The others serve Ghana under a foreign licence, which the Commission’s home page warns against: “Always make sure you bet with a licenced gaming operator.” A child, under eighteen, may not use a gambling machine or join a casino under the Act, and licensees file anti-money-laundering and suspicious transaction reports with the Commission.

The tax on winnings has come and gone. The Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1094), assented to on 3 April 2023, introduced a withholding tax of ten per cent on gross winnings from lottery, a term the Act extends to betting, gaming and any game of chance, and a tax of twenty per cent on the gross gaming revenue of operators; the Ghana Revenue Authority started collecting the withholding tax in August 2023. On 26 March 2025 Parliament passed the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which in the Ministry of Finance’s words “abolishes the 10% withholding tax on bet winnings and gaming”, and the President assented to it on 2 April 2025. Since then a Ghanaian bettor is paid gross. The same package repealed the Electronic Transfer Levy, the 1% charged since 2022 on mobile money and bank transfers above GHS 100 a day; the GRA records it as repealed in April 2025.

Which payment methods work from Ghana

Of the 49 bookmakers open to Ghana, 40 list Visa and 38 Mastercard; 38 take Bitcoin and 35 Ethereum; 35 take Neteller, 31 Skrill, 22 Paysafecard, 16 Payz, 15 Jeton and 15 MiFinity; 15 list Google Pay, 11 Apple Pay and 4 PayPal. Twenty-two list a bank transfer. Four, 1xBet, 22Bet, Melbet and Secretbet, list MTN Mobile Money, and 22Bet alone lists Vodafone Cash, the former name of Telecel Cash; the lists describe the whole cashier of each bookmaker, so the Ghanaian cashier of a licensed site can show more. The rules that decide what goes through:

• Licence first. The Gaming Commission’s licence list is the only official check on a bookmaker; six of the sites below hold a 2026 licence. A licensee must be partly or wholly Ghanaian owned with an office in Ghana, and the cashier you see depends on which site, the licensed Ghanaian one or the international one, you register on.
• No tax on winnings and no levy on transfers. Since April 2025 nothing is withheld from a payout, and a mobile money or bank transfer no longer carries the 1% Electronic Transfer Levy. A cedi deposit by mobile money into a licensed site therefore carries no levy and no currency conversion.
• Google Pay yes, Apple Pay no. Ghana is on Google’s list of countries where Google Pay works online and in apps; it is not on Apple’s list of countries that support Apple Pay, whose African entries are Egypt, Mauritius, Morocco and South Africa. A Ghanaian Visa or Mastercard still works typed into the cashier.
• Wallets. PayPal admits gambling only from operators it has approved, in jurisdictions where betting is legal, so the four bookmakers that list it offer it on the national sites that hold that approval. eZeeWallet opens no account for residents of Ghana. Sticpay loads by mobile money in Ghana and AstroPay publishes an identity guide for Ghana; both pay the bookmaker from the wallet balance.
• Crypto. Parliament passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act on 19 December 2025. The Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission license the providers; an individual trading for himself needs no licence, the cedi remains the sole legal tender, and virtual assets are not covered by the deposit protection scheme. The 38 bookmakers that take Bitcoin from Ghana are offshore sites, most of them licensed in Curaçao, whose crypto guideline of June 2026 requires them to screen the wallet you deposit from and to verify that you own the wallet you withdraw to.

Local payment methods

Mobile money is the local method, in three brands that send money to each other through Mobile Money Interoperability, and none of them charges the Electronic Transfer Levy any more.

MTN Mobile Money (MoMo)

MTN says that over 17 million people use MoMo, that the wallet is available on any Ghanaian MTN number and that it carries no monthly fee. You load it at a MoMo vendor or an MTN service centre, send and receive money, pay bills and cash out at any vendor. MTN’s MoMo page publishes no transaction fee table and no limits, and the rest of its site refuses automated readers, so the per-transfer fees could not be checked. Four of the 49 bookmakers list MTN Mobile Money.

Telecel Cash

The mobile money of Telecel Ghana sends money to all networks, pays at POS terminals, moves money between the wallet and a bank account, withdraws at ATMs and takes international transfers; Telecel publishes no fees or limits on the page. Bookmaker lists still carry the old name, Vodafone Cash: 22Bet is the one site in our data that lists it.

AirtelTigo Money

The third wallet, run by AirtelTigo. Its website blocked automated reading on 19 October 2026, so nothing about its fees or limits is reported here. The four bookmakers that list “Airtel Money” use the name of the Airtel wallet in other African markets; none names AirtelTigo.

How to deposit and withdraw from Ghana

• Keep the betting account in cedis. 19 of the 49 bookmakers offer a GHS account; at the others every deposit and withdrawal is converted by your bank, card issuer or wallet, at their rate.
• Check the licence list before you deposit. The Gaming Commission publishes its licensees for the year; a site that is not on it is outside the Commission’s complaint procedure, and its own warning is to bet only with a licensed operator.
• Deposit by mobile money at a licensed site. A cedi transfer from MTN MoMo or Telecel Cash reaches the betting account without conversion and without the levy repealed in April 2025; a card deposit is the fallback at offshore sites, which rarely list mobile money.
• Expect an identity check before the first withdrawal. Licensees file anti-money-laundering and suspicious transaction reports with the Commission, and the Act bars anyone under eighteen; the name on the wallet or card and on the betting account must be the same.
• Winnings are paid gross. The 10% withholding tax that applied from August 2023 was abolished in April 2025; nothing is deducted at payout, and the operator pays its own tax on gross gaming revenue.
• Withdraw the way you deposited. A mobile money withdrawal lands in the wallet and is cashed out at a vendor; a card or bank withdrawal takes the days your bank adds, and a crypto withdrawal from an offshore site needs a wallet in your own name.