By Dr. Mark Creech
Director of Government Relations
Return America
Senate President Pro-Tempore Phil Berger is widely regarded as one of the finest legislative leaders North Carolina has ever known. For years, he has provided steady and principled leadership, helping shape policies that have strengthened our state and improved the lives of many. Credit is due where credit is due.
Yet, the controversy surrounding casino expansion in 2023, which Berger championed, and the political fallout that followed, should give us pause, not because it proves corruption on Senator Berger’s part (it does not), but because it reveals something deeper.
It points to a consistent and troubling pattern in North Carolina: whenever gambling expands, something good declines.
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Consider the record:
1. The House Speaker Jim Black era (2005–2007).
In late 2005, federal investigators began examining then-House Speaker Jim Black’s campaign finances and his connections to the lottery and video poker industries. WRAL reported that a federal grand jury sought records about contacts, contributions, trips, and dinners tied to lottery and video poker interests. Black later pleaded guilty to a federal public-corruption charge, and the Justice Department announced he was sentenced to 63 months in prison. His conviction was not framed solely as a “gambling case,” but the lottery/video-poker nexus was plainly part of the larger corruption cloud that brought him down.
2. Kevin Geddings, the lottery commissioner who hid vendor ties (2005–2007).
Kevin Geddings, appointed to the new North Carolina Lottery Commission, failed to disclose that he had received about $228,796 from Scientific Games, a company bidding on North Carolina lottery business. Federal prosecutors said he concealed a serious conflict of interest while serving on the commission. That is one of the clearest examples of gambling-related public corruption in modern North Carolina.
3. Meredith Norris, Black’s aide, lobbying for a lottery vendor without registering (2005–2006).
Meredith Norris, Speaker Black’s former political director, pleaded no contest to a lobbying violation after investigators said she worked as a paid lobbyist for Scientific Games without registering. Prosecutors said emails showed she promoted legislation and a lottery commission favorable to the company while presenting herself as a direct line to Black.
4. Alan Middleton of Scientific Games, convicted on lobbying violations (2006).
Alan Middleton, a former Scientific Games executive, was convicted on misdemeanor lobbying charges. Prosecutors said he lobbied lawmakers for weeks before registering and helped Norris violate lobbying laws. This matters because it shows that the corruption problem was not confined to politicians; it also involved gambling vendors seeking an advantage inside the legislative process.
5. The broader video-poker money trail that fed the Speaker Black scandal.
Later reporting tied the Black-era scandal back to donations and influence from the video poker world. WRAL news noted that Democracy North Carolina’s Bob Hall made earlier warnings about video poker donations and how they “played a significant role in a scandal that cost Democratic speaker Jim Black his post.” In addition, a 2006 WRAL report said Black’s campaign had to forfeit illegal video-poker donations, even though elections officials said they found no proof he knew those particular contributions were unlawful. That does not excuse the system; it shows how deeply gambling money had seeped into state politics.
6. Sweepstakes/video-gambling campaign money investigation (2013–2015).
A new round of concern erupted over the video sweepstakes industry. The SBI investigated campaign donations from the industry as a possible public corruption matter. AP, via WRAL, reported that the probe began in 2013 and involved donations linked to Chase E. Burns, whose political giving had raised questions about whether corporate money had been funneled into campaigns.
7. What the 2015 elections board investigation found.
In 2015, the State Board of Elections said it found no candidate had acted illegally in accepting sweepstakes money, but the board’s own report still exposed how money and lobbying were intertwined. WRAL reported that Burns alone gave $274,500 to North Carolina candidates and causes in the 2011–12 cycle; then Governor McCrory received $70,000 from Burns and others. Burns later pleaded guilty in Florida to assisting the operation of an illegal lottery and forfeited money in Oklahoma. So, while the board did not find provable campaign-finance violations by the candidates, the underlying picture was still deeply troubling.
8. Video-poker donation complaint: $885,000 allegedly funneled in a way that evaded PAC rules (2019–2022, complaint filed 2023).
In 2023, Bob Hall, with Democracy North Carolina, filed a complaint alleging that the North Carolina Coin Operators Association and related video-poker interests gave $885,000 to candidates and party committees from 2019 to 2022 through bundled checks in a coordinated way that skirted PAC rules and contribution limits. That was an allegation, not a final adjudication, but it is exactly the kind of “legalized influence” pattern that has shadowed gambling in North Carolina for years.
9. A broader flood of gambling money during the 2023 expansion fights.
As lawmakers debated mobile sports betting, casinos, and video lottery terminals, WRAL reported that gambling-related donors gave lawmakers more than $500,000 in just the first half of 2023, on top of the $885,000 Hall had already challenged. Hall described the atmosphere as looking like a “pay-to-play state.” That quote is an interpretation, not a legal finding, but the underlying donation totals are documented.
10. Casino legislation and “pay-to-play” concerns tied to Cordish (2022–2023).
When a draft casino bill surfaced in 2023, reporting showed that at least eight lawmakers had received $34,400 from donors tied to The Cordish Companies, the firm linked to the proposed casino development. Carolina Public Press, carried by WRAL, said critics raised “pay-to-play” concerns. Importantly, the story also notes that such donations were not illegal under North Carolina law. So, this falls under ethically troubling influence, not proven criminal corruption.
11. Greater Carolina / Jason Saine allegations involving gambling interests (2024) and SBI probe (2026).
In 2024, a complaint alleged that Greater Carolina, a politically connected nonprofit tied to then-Rep. Jason Saine was used to evade the state’s ban on gifts to public officials and to provide cover for “covert and unreported lobbying,” including spending tied to lawmakers. In 2026, WRAL reported that the SBI opened an investigation into related allegations and that the complaint specifically alleged the group acted as a pass-through for alcohol and gambling interests to benefit a powerful lawmaker while skirting ethics and campaign-finance rules. As of that report, this was an active investigation, not a concluded case.
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Our state’s own history has shown us that gambling never arrives alone. It brings pressures, influences, and patterns that challenge even the strongest institutions – and even the strongest people.
Scripture warns, ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after… [they] pierced themselves through with many sorrows’ (1 Timothy 6:10).
Wherever this inordinate affection is allowed to take hold, it rarely leaves anything without deleterious effects.
As has often been said, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. North Carolina would do well to remember – and to rid itself of gambling and avoid its influences.
Good things tend to decline and die when gambling enters the picture.
