UK poker player and media personality Vicky Coren (pictured) has announced that she will no longer represent PokerStars due to the company’s decision to offer casino games alongside its online poker product.

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Last Wednesday, Coren posted a farewell message on her personal blogand expanded on her rationale for leaving the company. “I cannot professionally and publicly endorse it, even passably by silence with my name still over the shop,” she wrote. “Poker is the game I love, poker is what I signed up to promote.”

A member of Team Pro since 2007, Coren became the first person in history to win two EPT championships, the first in London for £500,000 in 2006 and the second this year in San Remo for €476,000. Throughout her career, she has banked over $2.4 million in recorded live tournament winnings, according to Global Poker Index.

In addition to her success at the poker tables, Coren has made a name for herself as a prolific and popular writer, her columns appearing in publications like The Observer, Elle, and GQ.

In her post, the 42-year-old expressed the need to act quickly on her gut feeling instead of convincing herself into staying at the company. Continuing to promote a brand that offers casino games, she said, would violate some of her core principles and beliefs about addiction.

“I’m always careful to explain the difference between the essentially fair nature of poker, where we all take each other on the same basic chance, and those casino games at unfavorable odds, which can be (especially online) so dangerous for the vulnerable or desperate,” she continued.

Last week, PokerStars announced that it will begin rolling out casino games along with sports betting for players worldwide in the coming months. By the end of the year, the company anticipates that nearly 50% of its player base will have access to the new games, with sports betting and more casino options coming in 2015.

But Coren doesn’t criticize her former employer for making the change. “Business is business, they are providing a new service that people want, and I know they intend to abide by some key principles of responsible gaming,” she said.

While big-name players like Gus Hansen and Viktor Blom have recently lost their sponsorship deals with PokerStars’ sister company Full Tilt, company executives were seemingly interested in keeping Coren on the marketing roster.

“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 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,” she said.

Calling the decision “sad” and “scary,” Coren didn’t rule out the possibility of teaming up with Stars again in the future. “I will watch from the outside to see what the new site looks like, how safe and responsible it seems, how the advertising feels, and the direction the company takes,” she said. “Maybe in the future I will be able to work with PokerStars again on something which is pure poker.”

She concluded her post by assuring that there were no hard feelings toward the company “which has done so much for the beautiful game over the last decade.”

Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars’ Head of Corporate Communications, echoed that sentiment in a Twitter post. “We respect Victoria Coren’s decision to leave Team PokerStars Pro following our recent announcement to add casino games,” he Tweeted. “We’re sad to see Vicky go and remain thankful for her support of the game and the company and wish her success in poker and in life.”

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