Ben Affleck admits he was caught counting cards in Las Vegas in April.
The ‘Argo’ star, who has three children, Violet, eight, Seraphina, five, and two-year-old Samuel, with wife Jennifer Garner, says he has been punished for ”being good” at blackjack, but insists he wasn’t kicked out of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino because he used the gambling strategy, which involves counting card values to decrease betting risk during a major game.
Asked about the incident, the 41-year-old Oscar winner said: ”That is a true story. I mean, that took place. I took some time to learn the game and became a decent blackjack player. And once I became decent, the casinos asked me not to play blackjack. I mean, the fact that being good at the game is against the rules at the casinos should tell you something about casinos.”
The ‘Batman v. Supreme: Dawn of Justice’ star added: ”I had always liked blackjack. I don’t play any other games of chance. I don’t bet on football games, and I don’t gamble at all, really, outside of that. But I knew with blackjack that there’s a way you can improve your odds. And so I started trying to learn. And then I just got to a point in my life where I’m like, ‘If I’m going to do something, I’m going to try and do it really well.’ ”
But Ben says he wasn’t escorted out of the casino by security.
He said: ”No, I wish! That would be awesome. [Like,] ‘Get him outta here! He’s a magician!’ Unfortunately, they just came up and said, ‘We can’t let you play blackjack. But we have other table games! We have Chinese poker!’ ”
The ‘Good Will Hunting’ star was also allegedly kicked out of the Caesar Windsor Hotel and Casino in Ontario, Canada in May for counting cards.