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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMaureen O’Connor: Former San Diego Mayor Bet More Than $1 Billion as a Result of Gambling Addiction
As Maureen OConnor stood in court Thursday somberly admitting over the course of years that she had bet a total of more than $1 billion in casinos due to her compulsive gambling, it was the sad culmination of an addiction that dismantled a vast fortune and left her broke and in failing health.
The former mayor of San Diego and widow of millionaire Jack-in-the-Box restaurant chain founder Robert Peterson, who died in 1994 lost a total of $13 million to casinos, and confessed to taking $2.1 million from her husbands charitable foundation only to blow it on video poker. But it didnt end there. Court records show OConnor liquidated her savings, sold a number of properties, auctioned her valuables and took out second and third mortgages on her home in La Jolla, Calif. all of it to only rack up extensive gambling debts.
Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/02/15/maureen-oconnor-former-san-diego-mayor-bet-more-than-1-billion-as-a-result-of-gambling-addiction/#ixzz2Kzezi9KD
Response to cali (Original post)
CountAllVotes This message was self-deleted by its author.
Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)sadbear
(4,340 posts)KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)...$416,00 a month...
...$104.66 a week...
...$14,880 a day...
...$620 an hour...
cali
(114,904 posts)KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)That's over $110 million a year...and no one noticed? What a waste of a lot of Jumbo Jacks...
Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)and extenuating circumstances resulting from the death of her husband.
malaise
(269,157 posts)How much more did she want?
KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)I had a co-worker who was always going to "the boat"...I knew she had a gambling addiction but it's her money and it became a running joke. I'd ask her "how much did you take to the boat this week?"...she'd answer "$500", then I'd ask "how much did you leave with"...she'd say "I won $250"...I'd ask "you mean you have $750??"..."no she'd say...I came home with $250...but I was down to $5 at one point and made a bunch of "hits"."
Most of it was for the "thrill". My bet (pardon the pun) is this was a very lonely lady with a lot of time to waste. While I can't feel sorry for someone whose thrown that kind of money away (think of how many schools it could have paid for) this sounds this lady got taken by those she trusted.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)and the true "thrill" isn't in winning; it's in those short seconds that the cards are revealed, the dice rolling and the wheel spinning...
CountAllVotes
(20,878 posts)It doesn't really matter "how much", it is stimulation to endorphins of the brain (pleasure centers).
Once the stimulation is over, the person wants another "hit" so to speak.
So, the person continues to gamble and gamble and gamble waiting for he next "hit". The hit finally comes and the cycle repeats itself.
There are so many of these Indian casinos popping up all over the place that it maddens me as they have become magnets for the following where I live:
#1: Prostitution
#2: Drug rings
#3: Crime
#4: More and more addiction to gambling being reinforced by your local city council.
They say they are proud members of the community and that they contribute to the well-being of others. I cry B.S. on that one!
I'd really be happy if all of these dumpy casinos went belly up. Most are not even run by tribal members, they have some non-Indian person there handling their "business" which is corrupt as hell!
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)but casinos are one of the biggest drains on a local economy because they offer no tangible goods or services, suck up so much without re-investing in the community, which heavily outweighs the paltry number of jobs it creates (the other biggest economy drain is a megachurch, which should be no real surprise)...
Casinos keep popping up because local governments see their people (mainly senior citizens) take 3-4 hour bus rides every weekend to the nearest casino in the next state, and legislators think they can get that money to "stay" by approving a hometown casino...I've seen it happen in Detroit, Maryland and a bunch of other places...
CountAllVotes
(20,878 posts)Esp. the laws that protect the worker and for that matter the patrons as well!
If you happen to injure yourself on the job, they won't allow the person to file a worker's comp. claim as they claim tribal sovereignty to protect themselves. Same with an injury that might occur on their premises to the hapless patron.
I rather seriously doubt that most people (old or young) would travel 3-4 hrs. to go to a casino very often. It is a lot more convenient to have one in your backyard is the plan.
In any event, I agree with you, these places are doing no good!
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)(Biloxi, Gulfport, Bay St Louis) area many times over the past 25 years. First few years were before the casinos came...the towns were charming, the people very friendly. While the job market wasn't robust, people did find work and cost of living was low.
Since the casinos came, the charm is gone. The only thriving businesses appear to be pawn shops. The jobs created by the casinos are low-paying...maids, bartenders, etc. Cost of living has soared. All the profits go out of state to corporate owners, none stays local.
I personally don't care if people want to throw their money away...but casinos aren't an asset for local communities, and I would advise opposing them.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)(or just watch Trading Places)
Initech
(100,102 posts)tjwash
(8,219 posts)To this day we still have a large contingent of roger hedgehog apologists here as well.
She'll do a little probation, file chapter 11, and get a talk radio show just like the rest of the losers and common criminals like roger - blasting Dems on KOGO, kissing rush and hannity keester, and getting paid to talk shit all day.
I'll always remember her as the dimbulb mayor while we had a severe drought a couple of decades ago. She was trying to pass laws making it illegal to water your grass and hose your driveway down, all the while she was the biggest offender of wasting water in the city. She got caught red handed having the city workers on the clock running an extra fucking water main to her mansion for a new koi-pond she was putting in.
She's a garden variety scumbag.