SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
UK TV personality and European Poker Tour champion Victoria Coren-Mitchell has terminated her sponsorship deal with PokerStars. Coren-Mitchell citied the introduction of casino product to its inventory as the reason for the termination of her representation of PokerStars.
Coren-Mitchell made a statement announcing the termination through her blog – VictoriaCoren.com.
“On Friday night, PokerStars.com announced that it will be rolling out online casino gaming alongside its internet poker. As a result, on Saturday morning, I terminated my endorsement contract with them”.
“Their news was very sudden, so I didn’t have much time to consider my position, but I knew I had to act quickly before I could think better of it. Obviously this is a scary and sad decision for me to make. I have been with PokerStars since 2007 and Team Pro has been a core part of my identity. Obviously I will miss the money and am nervous of managing without it. Also, ironically enough, my plan for the next year or two had been to travel less and play more online.”
“But I cannot professionally and publicly endorse it, even passively by silence with my name still over the shop. Poker is the game I love, poker is what I signed up to promote. The question I’m probably asked most often in interviews is about the danger of addiction, going skint and so on. I’m always careful to explain the difference between the essentially fair nature of poker, where we all take each other on with the same basic chance, and those casino games at unfavourable odds which can be (especially online) so dangerous for the vulnerable or desperate. Although PokerStars assured me I would not have to actively promote the casino arm, I know in my heart that continuing in my current role could risk helping to send people to a place where they would encounter something I think is dangerous. That’s not the way I want to make a living.”
A popular English TV personality and journalist Victoria Coren-Mitchell, has publically championed poker as a game of skill, having written and debated about the games virtues to the wider UK public.
As a Team PokerStars pro she become the first female player to win a European Poker Tour (EPT) main event. To date she has earned over $2.5 million in career earnings.
Amaya Gaming owners of PokerStars have yet to comment on Coren-Mitchell termination of sponsorship.
