San Diego's ex-mayor blames $1B gambling losses on brain tumour

All I can say is wow. 1 billion dollars. Where do you get markers to cover 1 billion dollars.

Guido and Vinnies easy payday loans?

She had a personal fortune of close to 60 million dollars. Her husband was the founder of Jack in the box. She blew her own forune, and stole over 2 million from her husbands charitable trust. The 1 billion amoumt comes from her own fortune, the money she won over the years and the money she stole. I am not going to excuse her behavior. What she did was wrong. I do understand her situation however. I live in a gambling town. I see the destruction that gambling addiction causes every day. As the economy worsened, more locales have tuned to gambling as a source of easy revenue. Most were not prepared for the true cost of gambling addiction. I would have to say that of all the addictions that I have encountered over the years, gambling is the worst. If an alcoholic or drug addict were to use thousands of dollars on a substance in a single night, they would be dead. Not so for the gambling addict. The more money they lose, the more they feel they are due to win. I have always been a libertarian. I have always been about people making free choices about their lives. My time in Las Vegas is changing that way of thinking. I used to feel that uneducated,lower class people were the ones to become gambling addicts. I have seen many wealthy people lose everything to gambling. Its worse for the wealthy. They have an image to maintain. For them to lose everything (like the woman in the headlines),it might lead to suicide. For a homeless person to lose what little he has.....who would notice the difference? Casinos offer insurmountable odds. They broadcast the winners over a loudspeaker to create the image that everyone is winning. If you are not winning, you are not trying hard enough. You need to bet more, and play faster. I work in a casino, and I am disgusted by thier tacticts. No wonder the mob had a field day here in Vegas. No wonder the corporations wanted the mob out, so they could line their own pockets in the same manner. I honestly have more respect for a drug dealer than a casino. At least with a drug dealer, one gets a product for currency. You know what you are buying. That product may lead to ill health, criminal records, and death. However no fortune 500 company is championing the benefits of illegal drugs. All these fortune 500 companies championing the benefits of gambling: "you can't win if you don't play!" etc. etc. Its all bullshit!!! People losing everything they have to these corporate asshole criminals. We taxpayers pick up the tab when the destitute end up on the dole. I would rather see someone buy a bag of weed, go home to their family, order a pizza, and rent a movie. They would get a lot more entertainment value for their dollar, eat bettter, spend more time with thier family, and save a shitload more of their money. I have always been a right wing, pro business type of guy. Nothing (andI mean nothing)is moving me more to the center then working for these assholes. Destroying peoples lives is their business,and thier bottom line.

The article contradicts itself. First it says:



Then it states:



So did she start gambling in 2000 or 2001 (doesn't anyone proofread anymore?)? Regardless she obviously wasn't playing the quarter slots. But to have won and lost a billion dollars in nine years she must have spent A LOT of time at the casino. Didn't anyone notice/question her absence?