40. Gambling: Molly Bloom & Maureen O'Connor

This week we tell the story of two women who didn’t know when to fold ‘em and when to walk away. That’s right, we’re talking about GAMBLING. Rachel starts off with the story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic skier turned “Poker Princess”. After a devastating injury, Molly retired from skiing and decided to move to LA after graduating college. She started working as an assistant for a real estate investor who involved her in hosting his weekly poker games. The players included famous actors (like Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire), athletes, and billionaires. Molly would eventually take over the games and was now in charge of collecting and paying out millions of dollars. It would all come to an end after Molly’s bank account was seized by the FBI and she was indicted with a huge mob bust. Next, Nathalie tells the story of former San Diego Mayor, Maureen O’Connor. After her husband passed away, she stole over $2 million from the money he reserved for charitable foundations. She blamed her decade-long gambling spree on the grief from the loss of her husband and a...brain tumor? Rachel’s Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_poker https://www.semesteratsea.org/faculty-and-staff/larry-bloom/ https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-molly-bloom-mollys-game-20170102-story.html https://www.theringer.com/movies/2017/12/27/16805574/mollys-game-real-celebrity-stories https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/120-molly-bloom-the-one-who-makes-the-rules-wins-the-game/id1344999619?i=1000423757526 https://www.amazon.com/Mollys-Game-26-Year-Old-High-Stakes-Underground-ebook/dp/B00DB32V4G Nathalie's Sources https://nation.time.com/2013/02/15/maureen-oconnor-former-san-diego-mayor-bet-more-than-1-billion-as-a-result-of-gambling-addiction/ https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sd-me-oconnor-payment-20170817-story.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/us/over-a-decade-maureen-oconnor-spent-1-billion-on-bets.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_O%27Connor_(California_politician)