Victoria Coren Mitchell blasts gambling for ruining lives

Victoria Coren Mitchell has declared gambling ruins lives.

The ‘Only Connect’ host, 51, who has two children with her TV comic husband David Mitchell, 49, has made a fortune from her poker playing, but has now said she objects to the type of casino-based gambling where punters have no chance of winning long-term as the odds are stacked against them.

She was quoted by the Daily Star saying: “I don’t advocate gambling, it ruins lives.

“I would advise people with every fibre of my being, ‘Do not play roulette, play dice, play fruit machines’.

“These are massive odds stacked against you. Don’t do it, don’t do it.”

Victoria is said to have banked £2 million from poker and presenting shows sponsored by betting firms.

The presenter was recently in the headlines for refusing to apologise after fans were left outraged by a spelling mistake in one of the games on her BBC Two quiz show ‘Only Connect’.

Viewers spotted ‘Stranger Things’ actor Finn Wolfhard’ surname was wrongly spelled Wolfhart, with one raging on X: “Absolutely incandescent about #OnlyConnect misspelling Finn Wolfhard’s name. Cancelling my subscription, putting my foot through the TV screen, sending them the bill, etc.”

Another added: “So @OnlyConnectQuiz are ok with putting a clue on the board that’s spelt wrong? Finn WolfharD is in Stranger Things, but I don’t know of a Finn Wolfhart. #onlyconnect.”

Victoria, who has fronted the show since 2008, refused to say sorry and wrote on X: “Ooh, it seems we had a spelling mistake on the connecting wall last night! Wolfhard was written as Wolfhart.

“BUT I WON’T APOLOGISE. I think it’s important to have an error in the Third Place Play-Off, like the deliberate flaw in a Persian carpet, lest God be offended.”