NC State lottery chairman steps down

Wednesday, September 13, 2006 posted 03:11 AM EDT

RALEIGH -- The chairman of the state lottery commission has resigned after a tumultuous year on the job.

During his tenure, Charles Sanders helped create a lottery in North Carolina, handled ethics questions surrounding the approval of the games and watched three other commissioners give up their seats.

Gov. Mike Easley appointed Sanders to a one-year term that expired Aug. 31. In a message released by the North Carolina Education Lottery on Tuesday, Sanders said he told Easley at the time of his appointment that he planned only to serve for a year.

"I am proud the funds generated by the lottery are adding to the existing commitment of North Carolina to the education of its students," Sanders said in the message, warning that "the people of North Carolina must guard to insure that these funds are truly additive and not supplanting existing funds in the years ahead."

Sanders, a former chief executive officer of pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Inc., helped the commission hire lottery director Tom Shaheen in December, four months before the first tickets were sold.

Kevin Geddings, a former lottery commissioner who resigned just before his financial ties to lottery company Scientific Games International were made public, was indicted in May on nine federal counts of mail and wire fraud. Prosecutors said he misled state officials by not reporting that his consulting firm received nearly $230,000 between 2001 and 2005 either from Scientific Games or a company it later acquired.

Geddings was appointed by House Speaker Jim Black. Meredith Norris, a former political aide to Black, is accused of violating state lobbying law by working for Scientific Games during last year's debate over creation of the state lottery and not registering as a lobbyist. At the time, she worked as Black's unpaid political director.

Related Links
	Lottery News & Stories
	North Carolina Lottery Results
	Search Past North Carolina Lottery Winning Numbers