The alert went out over the inter-casino security system. There was a new card counter in town and he had been identified. It was celebrity actor Ben Affleck. The first reports said that the actor was banned from the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas but the truth was far less scandalous.
Affleck owns up to the fact that he was ‘busted’ in Las Vegas because of his newly acquired skill and he was asked not to play. “That is true,” he told a reporter from “Details Magazine”. “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.”
The 42 year old actor and father of three was speaking to the fact that in April and incident that occurred at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, gave him a new perspective on Blackjack. It was there that he was was banned from playing the popular game.
Affleck continued, “I mean the fact that being good at the game is against the rules at a casino should tell you something about a casino,”. “There’s a lot of hospitality, backslapping, when they think you’re gonna come in and dump money, and if they think you might leave with some money, it’s like, ‘You know what? Why don’t you try craps or roulette?”
While counting cards is technically legal , if someone is identified as a card counter they are often not allowed to play or asked to make the same bet on each hand. Typically, if a card counter persists, they will be ejected from the casino.
Affleck noted that blackjack was the only casino game that he played.
He continued, “I don’t bet on football games, and I don’t gamble at all, really, outside of that,” Affleck told the magazine reporter. “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.’”
Affleck also wanted to make it clear that he didn’t have some kind of of compulsion to gamble. “I get to correct the impression that there’s something wrong with it or that it demonstrates some, like, compulsive activity,” he said.
False reports were that the Hard Rock Casino threw him out of the casino, but that wasn’t the case. Affleck admitted that he’s no longer welcome to play blackjack at The Hard Rock or in several other casinos.
“I will say this: There were a number of casinos that said, ‘Hey, you can’t play blackjack here. We know you count cards. But, you know, you’re welcome to come, do whatever you want, see a show, have dinner. We’ll comp ya. Play roulette, we know you don’t play craps, but hang out, we still want your presence and business.’”
As for the casino, it would say only that, “Mr. Affleck, a valued guest of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, is not banned from our property and is welcome back any time,” according to a press release about the situation.
Further mentioned by Affleck was that his wife, Jennifer Garner, was upset about his so-called gambling habit “tabloid s***. They completely lie.”
But Affleck doesn’t seem to be bothered by these particular ‘lies’ about his blackjack card counting.
“Usually they say, like, ‘He’s homeless!’ He’s good at blackjack! Well, I’ll take that,” he told Details Magazine.