A 29-year-old businessman has been sentenced to nine months in prison on the charges of operating illegal gambling.
He was jailed by the Assin Fosu District Court in the Central Region for doing the business without a license.
The convict, Isaac Eyison, pleaded guilty to the charges of illegal gaming in public.
According to the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Gilbert Ayongo the convict was arrested due to intensified police patrols to clamp down on some festering illegal activities in the Fosu Municipal Assembly.
He said on Sunday, June 6, 2022, at about 08:30 hours, the police in Assin-Fosu gathered intelligence about the illegal gaming activities of the convict which had attracted high patronage.
He stated that a police patrol team led by Chief Inspector Johnson Dzikunu quickly moved to the scene but many patrons and bystanders took to their heels on seeing the police adding that the police arrested the convict and retrieved from him three mobile phones, wristwatches, spectacles, five pieces of black square-shaped wood tied with a black rubber band, and GH¢510 cash.
After interrogation, the convict failed to produce a license or any document of authority to support his illegal gambling business in the municipality.
In announcing the sentence, the court presided over by Abdul Majeed Illiasu and sentenced Isaac Eyison to nine months in prison.
Gambling has essentially gone online, with the majority of Ghanaian bettors betting on their mobile phones.
Unfortunately, the online space is not as regulated as its offline counterpart and this has given room for many unlicensed betting sites to offer their services to Ghanaians.
Gambling is fully legal and regulated in Ghana and regulated by the Ghana Gaming Commission (GGC).
The commission is the sole regulatory entity for the gambling industry in Ghana, excluding the lottery, which is run by the National Lottery Authority (NLA).
