Liberia: FIA fines 50/50 Casino L$6m over serious anti-money laundering lapses
Inspection reveals gaps in compliance and forces casino to take corrective action.
Liberia.- Liberia’s Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) has imposed a fine of L$6 million (€25,000) on 50/50 Casino Inc. after uncovering serious gaps in how it handles anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures.
Officials issued the fine on August 8 2025 after conducting a thorough inspection from October 9 to 15 2024 to assess risks in Liberia’s gaming industry. The FIA review revealed that 50/50 Casino, located in Monrovia, had significant deficiencies in its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) controls, failing to comply with Liberia’s 2021 AML/CFT Act.
An official letter from FIA officer-in-charge, Hon Mohammed Ali Nasser, states: “Given significant inadequacies in AML/CFT controls, risk exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing, and 50/50 Casino Inc.’s non-compliance with AML/CFT laws of Liberia, the FIA hereby imposes a monetary fine of L$6,000,000 on 50/50 Casino Inc. for its failure to meet critical and essential AML/CFT requirements as provided by the AML/CFT Act, 2021.”
The FIA highlighted several areas of concern, including the casino’s failure to conduct proper customer due diligence, the absence of a comprehensive risk-based compliance program, ineffective customer onboarding procedures and weak transaction monitoring systems.
These problems go against Section 15.3.2 of the AML/CFT Act. This section demands that casinos verify who their customers are and keep measures in place to prevent financial crimes.
Casino must rectify issues or face action
According to the letter, the agency told 50/50 Casino to hand in a detailed plan to “remediate problems by September 1, 2025”. They expect the casino to resolve all the issues by November 1, 2025. If not, the casino could face stricter actions from regulators.
This inspection comes as part of a bigger push to check and improve compliance in Liberia’s gaming industry. It looked at operators’ rules, processes and controls to meet national AML/CFT requirements.
The FIA’s firm measures show a growing focus on strong regulation. This highlights the need to protect the gaming sector and Liberia’s financial system from illegal activities.
