Former Florida problem gambling helpline director sentenced to nearly 10 years for embezzling from employer

Philip Lee Sullivan, 43, a former director of the 888-ADMIT-IT helpline run by the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, has been sentenced to 118.5 months in the Florida Department of Corrections. The sentence follows his theft of funds from his previous employer, Royal American, which he said was driven by a gambling addiction.

According to WJHG-TV, Sullivan was arrested in March 2024 after an internal audit found numerous unauthorized transactions on a company-issued credit card. He was dismissed, and the Bay County Sheriff's Office initially charged him with grand theft involving more than $100,000. The arrest affidavit alleged that he used the card to buy gift cards and cash cards online, with the transactions starting in April 2023 and continuing until his arrest.

On October 16, 2026, Sullivan pleaded guilty in Bay County to six felony charges and was adjudicated guilty on all counts. The six sentences will run concurrently. He was also ordered to pay nearly $1.5 million in restitution to Royal American, the Panama City-based company where he had served as chief financial officer.

Sullivan took over as director of the state's problem gambling helpline in March 2025. In a podcast interview released by ODAAT Gambling Awareness three days before sentencing, he described how gambling had wiped out his savings and left him deeply in debt. He said he had been in recovery for more than two and a half years, yet continued to gamble in the hope of winning enough to repay what he had taken.

At the hearing, his family and defense attorneys argued that the ADHD medication Adderall had worsened his gambling behavior. His wife, Mallory, told the court, as reported by WMBB, that she believed he would not have committed the offense without the medication.

Prosecutors rejected that account, arguing that the thefts were deliberate and concealed. Royal American controller Shannon Scribner testified that Sullivan bypassed financial controls meant to prevent fraud by using corporate credit cards to buy gift cards and cash cards online. In her account, he intentionally circumvented safeguards rather than simply exploiting an opportunity.