Affleck barred from casino game after cheating

Ben Affleck might be on his way to persona non grata status in certain parts of Las Vegas casinos: According to reports out on Friday, one outfit’s security team decided he had been counting cards at the blackjack table and asked him to leave.

The Gone Girl star was banned for life from playing the game at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, according to TMZ, after security there deemed him an “advantaged player” and swarmed the Argo director at a high rollers’ table.

Card counting — gaining an advantage by keeping track of which cards have been played in order to predict what’s likely to come next — isn’t illegal, but it is frowned upon by casinos and can get a person kicked out. The house doesn’t like it when players systematically improve their odds and know better when to bet big.

An all-points bulletin was issued to Sin City’s biggest casinos, notifying them that Affleck had been accused of the gambling strategy, RadarOnline said. The actor was reportedly barred from play shortly after 10pm “due to moving his money with the count,” according to a local security firm’s alert that was obtained by the website.

Us Weekly said Affleck was banned from blackjack only, not from the casino, nor from playing other games there.

“Security said, ‘You are too good at the game,’” a source told the magazine, adding: “The hotel was really nice about it and told him he could play other games. They ended up getting him and [wife Jennifer Garner] a car back to their hotel too.”

A New York Daily News source backed up the blackjack-only ban.

The 41-year-old, who is said to be a well-known card sharp, has previously amassed small fortunes in blackjack winnings, taking home a rumored $800,000 (Dh2.9 million) in Vegas the weekend before heading to rehab for alcohol addiction in summer 2001. He’s allegedly lost big-time at the poker table as well.

This time, the actor-director was reportedly in Vegas with Garner for a romantic weekend before he heads off to Detroit, where he’ll be filming the DC Comics superhero flick Batman vs. Superman.

The Oscar-winning producer will be playing Gotham’s Caped Crusader in the flick, which also stars Man of Steel’s Henry Cavill as the Big Blue Boy Scout.