Laura Bancroft (Going for Broke)

Laura Bancroft (Delta Burke) is the main protagonist villainess from the 2003 Lifetime film, Going for Broke. She is the wife of Jim Bancroft and the mother of Jennifer and Tommy, who served as Jim's stepchildren.

In the film, Laura moved her family from Florida to Reno, Nevada as part of her job with the Juvenile Chronic Illness Foundation. The family dined at a restaurant one evening, and it was afterwards that Laura visited a nearby casino. She plays one of the slot machines and wins $100 after a few attempts, and later in the film, she visits again while she and Jim are out dancing. This time, she wins $500, and it was at this point that her habitual visits become an addiction, which caused her to miss an appointment she was supposed to attend with Jennifer. Laura keeps her newfound addiction hidden from her family, who felt the effects of Laura's gambling, as bills had been piling up and Tommy was unable to join the school's soccer team due to the school not receiving payment.

Laura even kept her addiction a secret from her mother, Lois, as she asked to borrow $10,000 from her. However, Jim learned about Laura's activities when he followed her one night after Jennifer wasn't picked up by her mother. He reminded her about the bills piling up and scolded her for her addition to playing the slot machines, with Laura denying that she has a problem and promising Jim that she would handle the bills. Late that night, Laura went over the bills and muttered to herself that one jackpot win would solve everything. It was at that moment that Laura looked at Bradley Bradford's (the head of the charity) signature below hers and began practicing copying the signature, and that resulted in Laura forging the signature on her checks, resorting to becoming a crooked villainess by embezzling from the charity in order to pay her bills and fund her gambling habits.

Even after the embezzlement, the evil Laura also resorted to stealing some of her family's things and pawning them, including Tommy's bike and Jim's watch, among other things--all to fund her addiction. She was confronted by Jennifer regarding her habits, with Laura responding to her daughter's complaints by slapping her. Later on, Laura won a $50,000 jackpot at the casino, but her elation wasn't shared by Jim, who found out about Laura pawning Tommy's bike and other things, and demanded that the jackpot was going to be used to pay the bills. In response, Laura lashed out at Jim and ordered him to leave, stating that she and the kids would be better off without him.

Regarding the $50,000, Laura lost it all an hour later, and while shopping at a grocery store, she spotted slot machines and spent all of her money gambling on one, only walking away with just an amount of quarters--leaving her unable to pay for her cart full of groceries and only allowing her to purchase oatmeal. It was at this moment that Laura realized what her addiction was doing to her and to Jennifer and Tommy, and she was actually planning suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning, only to back out due to not wanting to leave her kids in a much worse situation. While at a diner with Martine Miller, Laura was on the verge of confessing to her embezzlement, only for Martine's phone ringing to cut her off.

After an audit was done on the foundation's books, Laura's year-long embezzlement was discovered, and she admitted to her crime to a shocked Martine. She was shown at Lois' house (where Jennifer and Tommy were staying) telling her that she was facing charges, and later on, Laura was shown at Gambler's Anonymous, which is where she had been narrating her story, including a revelation that she had stolen over $100,000 from the foundation. On trial, Laura was sentenced to 15 months in prison followed by a three year period of supervised release, while also being ordered to pay a $115,000 restituition. The film ends with Laura expressing her extreme remorse to Jennifer and Tommy, embracing the former before serving her sentence.

Trivia[]

Delta Burke is the real-life wife of Gerald McRaney, who played Jim Bancroft in the film.
Delta Burke also played psychotic villainess Tracy Horton in Maternal Instincts, as well as the deranged Myrtle Beech on Lois & Clark.