Ben Affleck Explains Why He Was Banned From Blackjack, Talks Gambling Addiction Rumors
Ben Affleck has a lot of "tabloid bullsh*t" he wants to clear up!
Back in May, the Batman vs. Superman actor made headlines for getting banned from the blackjack table at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Now, in a new interview with Details magazine, he not only confirms that the incident was a true story, but acknowledges rumors that he's suffered from a gambling addiction.
"That is a true story. I mean, that took place," Affleck, 42, says about the incident in May. “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."
NEWS: Ben Affleck Banned From Blackjack at Vegas Hotel
He also says that aside from blackjack, he doesn't "gamble at all."
"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," he says. "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.’ It was sort of presented like I did something illegal. You know what I mean?"
The notoriously private Affleck says he isn't hesitant to talk about the incident because he wants to correct all of the gambling addiction rumors.
"Because I get to correct the impression that there's something wrong with it or that it demonstrates some, like, compulsive activity,” he explains. “Usually, when you're a compulsive gambler, the casinos don't ask you to leave because you're beating them. You know?"
As for the rumors that his wife, Jennifer Garner, has become fed up with his gambling issues, Affleck doesn't hesitate to call it all "bulls*it."
"See, that's tabloid sh*t. That's all bullsh*t. They completely lie," he says. “ … And there's nothing you can do about that. My only hope is that people with any common sense recognize that those stories are false."
And though he acknowledges that it could be a lot worse than reports that he's great at blackjack, he does joke that he wishes tabloids hadn't reported on his "disheveled" looks.
"That's the thing: It's really hard for people to understand -- it would be hard for me to understand -- that people can freely write that sh*t, almost completely fiction, and pass it off and run it. And you're going, like, 'I can't f*ckin' believe this! Not only do they invite me over there, then they don't let me play, then they said I was, like, gambling, which also is not true, and then they said my hair was f*cked up. When will the indignities end?"
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Affleck is currently promoting his latest film, the highly anticipated Gone Girl (based on the bestselling novel by Gillian Flynn), which hits theaters October 3.
Check out the creepy trailer below: