Ben Affleck has been binge gambling at various Detroit casinos while he films “Batman,” but his wife, Jennifer Garner, doesn’t mind because it keeps more sinister vices at bay.
An insider told Radar that Affleck, a recovering alcoholic who was recently booted from the Caesars Windsor casino in Detroit, need not fear the wrath of his wife for his behavior. In fact, she commends him for it.
“Jen is happy with Ben gambling,” the source said, “because she feels like it keeps him focused.”
Garner reasons that if her husband wasn’t gambling, he’d find other outlets to blow off steam—aka alcohol and women—which could lead to serious problems.
“The alternatives are working, gambling, and spending time with family or out on the town partying,” said the insider. “Gambling replaces that last option … he’s either working or gambling. … Now she has that reign on him, and gambling keeps him in check.”
Affleck has been spotted at Detroit’s Caesars Windsor Hotel casino and the MotorCity Casino Hotel, where he stays up all night betting thousands of dollars per hand.
“It took me a minute to realize it was Ben Affleck,” said an eyewitness at MotorCity. “He looked disheveled and upset while sitting there gambling. He seemed really frazzled like he had just lost a ton of money. He was smoking a cigarette and his head was down in his arms. When he sat up his eyes looked bloodshot, like he’d been there all night!”
According to another eyewitness who saw Affleck at Caesars Windsor, “Ben walked in and went straight to the card games. His hair was a disaster, and he looked like a mess! He sat down and played for roughly 20 minutes before security heard he was there. They made the dealers stop what they were doing and asked him to leave. Ben seemed pretty mad.”
Affleck won the California State Poker Championship in 2012.