ITV star Paul Sinha has admitted he suffered a gambling addiction which led to him losing out financially.
The 53-year-old exclusively told Kate Thornton on her podcast, White Wine Question Time, that “no good” came from his gambling addiction and that he had “a lot of financial losses”.
When asked what he would say to his 16-year-old self, he admitted: “I would say is never, ever, ever walk into a betting shop in your life, because that’s the one avenue of error where I don’t think any positivity came out of it at all.”
He added: “Just a lot of financial losses.
“So, it’s not that every bad event has a sliding doors silver lining, it’s just most of them do.”
During their frank chat, he revealed he thought about gambling “a lot” and said his addiction was “very bad”.
Speaking openly, he revealed that he has come a long way.
“Now, I can walk past a betting shop and not even have the slightest inclination to walk in.”
Before adding: “I think fundamentally, I’m not bored anymore”.
He credited his smartphone for being the reason he doesn’t feel the need to gamble.
“We have a device that’s in our hands and in our hands is a device that allows you to connect with the entire world, whether it’s on social media, whether it’s on Wikipedia, whether it’s emailing people.”
While quipping: “Whether it’s finding out about who built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, whether it’s sticking on your Spotify and exploring the Beatles third album; the whole world is in your hands.
Reflecting on his childhood he said he was such a “curious kid, when it came to information”, which may be why he plays a pivotal role as the Chaser on the ITV show.
His love of information derives from his upbringing as he revealed that his parents would drop him off at the bookshop and then “come back four hours” later.
He said they would return and say: “‘Oh, you still here?’
“And I’d have my head in a book about cricket”.