By Godgift Harris
A month-long investigation, has uncovered a disturbing network of Chinese-owned, coin-operated slot machines across Monrovia and surrounding communities’ operations.
The machines, simple to operate are absorbing volumes of Liberian coins daily.
It is also drawing school-going age children into unregulated gambling.
What began as scattered neighborhood complaints, has now evolved into a full-scale public alarm, exposing weak oversight, alleged bribery among regulators.
Community leaders described the act as a ‘silent assault on Liberia’s fragile currency circulation.’
From Duala to Barnersville, Paynesville to New Georgia, residents report that Chinese-operated gaming corners, and makeshift betting kiosks are swallowing thousands of dollars’ worth of coins every day.
Local businesses say the machines are creating a scarcity of small change, crippling ordinary people daily transactions.
“We cannot even get L$5 or L$10 coins anymore, because these machines are taking everything from the market,” a Caldwell shopkeeper told this newspaper.
Several machine operators admitted that inspectors from the National Lottery Authority (NLA) routinely visit the centers.
They are therefore, fully aware that the gambling machines run exclusively on coins.
One operator said openly that the NLA inspectors come here all the time, they know we use coins. Nobody is hiding anything.
Yet, despite widespread complaints, and increasing public concern, the NLA has issued no official statement on the proliferation of unregistered machines or their use of national currency for gambling.
Perhaps, the most troubling finding from the investigation is that school-going children have become the main feeders of these machines.
Parents and teachers say minors skip classes, steal coins from their homes, or divert lunch money to fuel the gambling craze.
Some communities report children as young as eight years old crowding game rooms during school hours.
“Our children are being captured by these machines,” a Barnersville mother said.
“They leave home saying they’re going to school, but they end up in these game corners.”
For many young people, the machines have become the new “after-school hangout,” and in some cases, a substitute for school entirely.
Evidence gathered from operators, community leaders, and employees within the entertainment industry, points to widespread bribery among NLA inspectors.
According to multiple sources, inspectors allegedly collect cash envelopes from Chinese machine owners in exchange for ignoring serious violations.
They also include allowing minors to gamble; operating without registration or licenses, using coins as the sole gambling currency; running gambling centers late into the night inside residential communities.”
“Some inspectors are on payroll. Once they get their envelope, they pass without asking questions,” one employee claimed.
Economists warn that the continuous extraction of small coins from circulation could create harmful distortions in everyday market transactions.
“This is an assault on our currency system,” a Central Bank insider said.
“If thousands of coins disappear daily into unregulated gambling, transport, market women and low-income households will feel the pressure first.”
Parents, teachers, community watch groups, and district leaders have demanded urgent government intervention. They called for strict enforcement of age-restriction laws.
A full investigation into corruption within the NLA, regulation or an outright ban on coin-operated slot machines; protection of Liberia’s currency from mass extraction through gambling.
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