Bridgetown.
The Ministry of Finance is advising that the 15 per cent tax on lottery winnings over a $100,000 which was announced in the 2013 financial statement and budgetary proposals will be implemented fully, following the passage of the appropriate legislation.
According to a press statement from the Ministry, following the budget presentation this year , some industry players requested the Ministry to re-look at the proposal, highlighting some challenges which they believed might have been encountered given the changed structure of their industry.
The statement said those concerns were examined by the Ministry and some were found to be valid, and it formally indicated to at least one major player that it had decided not to pursue the measure in its original form.
In the statement the Ministry said it the decision to make necessary adjustments to the original proposal, allowing it to achieve the objectives which it set, and re-submit it to Parliament on the occasion of passage of the appropriate governing legislation, following Cabinet approval.
Dentonia Brewster, site operations manager at GTech, operators of The Barbados Lottery, told the media last night, he was informed by the Ministry of Finance in a letter dated October 11 that the Ministry was no longer pursuing the proposal. That letter was in response to queries he made about the tax in correspondence sent to the ministry on August 26.
In this regard, the ministry is currently putting the finishing touches to the proposal, following which industry players will be duly informed. It is expected that this process will be completed in a few weeks.
