Crime & Scandals

A Florida gambling helpline director who stole $1.4 million to feed his own massive gambling habit was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison.

Although 43-year-old Philip Lee Sullivan had entered recovery and dedicated himself to helping other addicts, his past caught up with him Friday in a Bay County courtroom.

Sullivan, formerly the chief financial officer at Panama City property management company Royal American, pleaded no contest to six felony charges and was sentenced to 118½ months in state prison by Bay County Judge Tim Register.

He was arrested in March 2024 after an internal audit at Royal American uncovered numerous unauthorized transactions on a company-issued credit card.

Prosecutors said Sullivan used his position to steal $1.4 million over just 11 months.

From Theft to the Gambling Helpline

In March 2025, while awaiting resolution of his case, Sullivan became helpline director for the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, a nonprofit that operates the state’s 888-ADMIT-IT problem gambling service.

In a podcast interview published by ODAAT Gambling Awareness just three days before his sentencing, Sullivan described how his addiction wiped out his savings and drove him deep into debt. He admitted he kept gambling in a desperate hope of winning enough money to repay what he had taken.

Through his work at the helpline, the father of two helped hundreds of people struggling with gambling addiction while publicly discussing his own recovery and efforts to rebuild his family life.

Adderall Blamed for Uncontrolled Addiction

At Friday’s hearing, Sullivan’s family and defense attorneys argued that his gambling addiction had been severely exacerbated by prescription Adderall, a medication commonly used to treat ADHD. His wife, Mallory, testified that she watched his behavior drastically change after he began taking the drug.

“I firmly believe … that if it weren’t for this medication, he would not have done that,” she told the court, according to local news outlet WMBB.

However, prosecutors presented evidence that Sullivan deliberately planned the thefts and took active steps to conceal them. Royal American controller Shannon Scribner testified that Sullivan manipulated the company’s financial controls, using corporate credit cards to purchase online gift cards and cash cards.

Scribner told the court Sullivan did not merely yield to temptation, but deliberately dismantled safeguards designed to prevent fraud.

Judge Register ordered Sullivan to begin serving his sentence immediately. He has 30 days to appeal the decision.

In Philip Conneller’s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation.

Philip was the original features editor for poker’s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites.

His news stories for Casino.org/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others.

Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John’s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic.

He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist.

Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC.

Contact Philip at [email protected].