Lottery news from http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/
COLUMBIA, S.C. - An Aiken senator wants South Carolina lottery contracts investigated after a former gubernatorial aide here was indicted in North Carolina.
On Friday, Sen. Greg Ryberg asked the state Legislative Audit Council to investigate Kevin Geddings' relationships with lottery vendors in South Carolina.
Geddings, 41, was chief of staff for Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges when he took office in 1999. Geddings, who went on to push Hodges' lottery plans, left the state and became a lottery commissioner in North Carolina.
But in May, Geddings was indicted on mail and wire fraud charges stemming from allegations he misled North Carolina about his work with a lottery vendor. Prosecutors say he didn't report that his consulting firm received nearly $230,000 between 2001 and 2005 either from Scientific Games International or a company it later acquired.
Ryberg, an outspoken lottery opponent, asked the watchdog agency in this state to "investigate the circumstances and conditions surrounding the awarding of a contract by the state of South Carolina to Scientific Gaming for the operation of the South Carolina Lottery."
The North Carolina indictments, he said, "cast a dark cloud of suspicion over the award of that contract in South Carolina."
Ryberg, R-Aiken, said he was concerned "the award of the lottery contract occurred as a result of graft or corruption and that consequently South Carolina citizens suffered, and continue to suffer, from this fraudulent activity."
Geddings' Charlotte phone number has been disconnected and the lawyer representing in the North Carolina case was not available Friday, his office said.
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