Disgraced San Diego Mayor: I’d Lose $100,000/Day Gambling
Disgraced Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor: Brain Tumor Contributed to Gambling Addiction (CBS News)
(CBS News) Maureen O'Connor was a beloved former mayor of San Diego. But O'Connor's life took a stunning turn after it was revealed she gambled away a fortune.
Prosecutors believe she won and lost more than $1 billion, playing video poker, raiding a charity foundation of $2 million to feed her gambling habit.
O'Connor sat down with CBS News' Bill Whitaker to explain what she thinks led to the addiction that has left her bankrupt.
Asked what's the worst of the situation for her, O'Connor said, "I couldn't do it in private. Very public. If I had my wish, I wished it would be gamblers anonymous, not, 'here's Maureen's story.'"
O'Connor said her story plays out in two acts: "Maureen 1" was mayor of San Diego. Her second act is unfolding in national headlines: a tawdry tale of gambling and lost fortunes. The widow of Robert Peterson, the founder of the West Coast fast-food chain, Jack-in-the-Box, she inherited as much as $50 million, say federal prosecutors.
"I used some of that fortune to help people. And then, some of that fortune, when I started to become 'Maureen 2,' went into an addiction of gambling. ... I lost a fortune. And for that I'm sorry," O'Connor said.
