California Mayor 1 Billion Dollar Gambling Spree

Hard to believe someone could go through $1 billion all on gambling even for us die-hard gambling fans.



But ex mayor of San Diego did just that. Maureen O'Connor admitted in federal court that she took $2.1 million from her late husband's charitable foundation and went on a decade long gambling rampage with win and losses estimated at $1 billion.

She hardly led a squalor married to Robert O. Peterson the founder of Jack-in-the Box fast food chain leaving her a $40 to $50 million after his death in 1994 from leukemia.

According to Uncle Sam she won $1 billion from 2000 - 2009 with net losses of $13 million.

O'Connor plead not guilty in court for money laundering charges with an a agreement with the Justice Department to pay it back the foundation and under go treatment for gambling.

Diagnosed in 2011 with a brain tumor stating:

"There are two Maureens -- Maureen No. 1 and Maureen No. 2," said O'Connor, who declined to take questions. "Maureen No. 2 is the Maureen who did not know she had a tumor growing in her brain."

Her gambling started after her husband's death as a way to cope and deal with the pain of his loss and describes it as "grief gambling".

Today she is flat broke and lives with her sister.

I guess we are small potatoes compared to this kind of gambling!

I just saw that on the news while looking for coverage of the meteorite in Russia.  People will take a wrong turn and follow that path to the bitter end.  It's sad that she let this happen.  Can you imagine if she had taken up a more philanthropic hobby?  She could have used her ill-gotten money helping people out of horrible situations.  A billion.  Oh, the humanity.  She took that money away from people who needed it badly.

Now she has to live with Maureen and her alter Maureen and think about what she did.  How the heck is she going to pay that money back if she is flat broke?  Lord, keep me from my evil self and help Maureen recover and get that money back to the charitable foundation.

WHAAAAAT THE .....!!

She won 1 billion...with 13 million net losses...and she's flat broke?
More like she won 1 billion, gambled it all away, and ended up with a net loss of 13 million...that would make more sense. I guess a 'grief gambler' is something like a 'grief shopper', only worse.

Like small potatoes Lips? More like grains of sand on the casino's carpet!

dust mote on the grain of sand is more like it around these parts! 

but I've had some good days.  just not billion dollar ones.

That's insane! Seriously how can you have your hands on that kind of cash and have nothing to show for it? What's lower than dust mote? The space that the dust mote takes up while it sits on a grain of sand.

What i can't wrap my head around is how do you go through a billion bucks. If i went every single day playing $100 slots between the losses and the wins how do you go through that much cash!

Why didn't she just give it to me? Geeze! For anyone that wants to blow millions and billions and zillions, look me up. I'll take it off your hands!

I read a little bit about the money.

It was over the course of about 10 years that she took the money, won the billion or so, lost the billion plus lost the money she took and I guess all of her own money as well since she's apparently sold or traded all her personal money, property, etc... and probably anyone else's she could get her hands on as well.

It's pretty easy to spend that much money gambling.  $1000 a spin would do it pretty fast, but maybe she blew it all on bingo.  (not)

That's just so much money that I can't even think about that. I think I will stick to my usual, up to $50 deposits.