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7 Celebs Who Were Banned from Casinos

7 Celebs Who Were Banned from Casinos

List of People Banned from Casinos

  • Ben Affleck
  • Dana White
  • Paris Hilton
  • Allen Iverson
  • Lil Wayne
  • Derren Brown
  • One Direction

Being a celebrity doesn’t mean that you will be instantly allowed to do anything that you want, even though that’s as close as you’re going to get it without being a politician or an important global figure. In any case, some celebs have a love for gambling that feels unparalleled, which has seen them visit some of the best casinos in the world. 

For some, unfortunately, the experience has not been what they originally expected. Some of the biggest names known to the public eye have been shockingly banned from some of the biggest casinos in the world – especially those found in Las Vegas.

In this article, we’ll be exploring 7 celebrities that have been banned from visiting casinos. We’ll also tell you why they were banned and where they are (probably) playing today so you can get an idea of where to go (hint: the best online casinos would be a good choice) if you somehow get banned from a casino yourself!

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck is probably the most surprising name on this list, seeing as he is mostly thought to be quite a calm person, but you’d be surprised to know just how much money Affleck has won in some of the world’s biggest casinos.

Not only is he an acclaimed Hollywood actor, but Ben Affleck is also a professional blackjack player that seems to find it easy to get his hands on casino money more often than not.

As a consequence, Ben Affleck was banned in 2014 from blackjack in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas after casino employees accused him of "counting cards", according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter.

This came after he went on a winning spree on the high roller blackjack tables of the casino, where he and his now ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, earned thousands of dollars on a single night courtesy of Affleck’s prominent abilities as a card counter. Not only that, but the famous actor is also widely regarded as a very good poker player and a master of casino table games. It was only a matter of time until casinos caught up with that fact and decided to keep him out for good!

Dana White

Dana White is just one of the many famous people who seem to have a feud with the Palms. There’s just something about this casino that seems to make people get in trouble with it, which appears to be that the establishment doesn’t take losing very well – even less than your average Las Vegas Casino. In any case, Dana White has been banned twice from the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, which led to him deciding to cut any UFC sponsorship deals with the casino in retaliation. Dana is a multi-millionaire and a very good blackjack player who has made a name for himself in the gambling world after having been banned from three different Las Vegas casinos for winning too much money at the blackjack tables. It comes as no surprise to see someone like him having such a level of success after what he did with the UFC as a franchise, though. In any case, Dana White is not permitted to enter the Palms Casino after having been banned on two occasions – even after the Casino owners had invited him back. It’s not profitable for a casino to allow a man to enter who plays $25,000 hands and wins consistently at the tables.

Paris Hilton

How did Paris Hilton become a celebrity is a very hard question to answer, but one thing’s for sure: she’s been banned from casinos in Las Vegas before. Was she banned because she was a master gambler who walked away with a ton of cash after a huge win? Did she manage to beat the odds at roulette and earn the biggest jackpot possible on a slot machine? The answer to all of the previous questions is no. She was actually caught with a very significant amount of cocaine. Oops! Some people get banned from casinos because they had been winning too much. Other people get banned because they put a show in front of everyone and tarnish the image of the casino in front of its visitors. Some people are more special and try to snuggle cocaine within the hotel of the casino. Happens to the best of us, right? Paris Hilton actually tried telling the cops that she thought she was carrying chewing gum instead of cocaine. Shockingly, no one believed her. She had to serve 200 hours of community service to get out of her jail sentence.

Allen Iverson

Allen Iverson is not only one of the most acclaimed players in NBA history, but he’s also been banned for three of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas. We know what you’re thinking: Is Allen Iverson a master gambler, then? How much money must he have taken from casinos in order to have himself banned so many times? The answer is simple: he’s not a great gambler at all. In fact, it is his behavior as a sore loser and occasional drunk that has caused Iverson to have been banned from so many casinos. It’s not all about the money that he has earned playing in them, which isn’t so much – it’s more about the inconveniences that he keeps finding himself in. He has been found urinating at the premises of Las Vegas Casinos and behaving really poorly when facing the authorities of said casinos. It is clear that Iverson has let fame take over his head, and combined with the fact that he doesn’t know how to lose, he’s proven to be quite a dangerous character to have in any of the world’s biggest casinos. Thankfully, Iverson will be mostly remembered for the things he could do in the court more than the issues he has had after retiring from the NBA.

Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne is a very curious character as he only seems to have had issues with a single Las Vegas Casino (no, not the Palms!). He has been a public figure for most of his life, which means that it’s likely that he has had a few personal problems along the way. There was a time when Lil Wayne got in trouble with the authorities and he was prohibited from drinking in public again, which he decided to do once at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. The casino took the decision to ban him, according to the stories. Officially, we don’t really know why Lil Wayne was banned from the casino, as there was no official statement disclosing the reasons. He only seems to have issues with this casino, though. After he was banned from the Wynn, Lil Wayne went on to visit the Palms on numerous occasions, where he doesn’t seem to have had any issues at all. We’ll never know the exact reasons as to why he has been banned from the Wynn, but he failed to attend Drake’s party at the casino for the exact same reason!

Derren Brown

If there’s one type of person that online casinos really don’t like having around, that is someone who basically makes a living on counting cards and being an overall expert with tricks: an illusionist. If you haven’t heard of Derren Brown before, then we encourage you to look for his tricks and illusions on YouTube. He’s one of the most famous illusionists in Britain, which means that casinos probably don’t like to see much of him around their premises. In fact, he’s banned from the majority of casinos in the United Kingdom for that same reason. There was this one time where he finished a show and decided to head with some friends to the Broadway Plaza Casino to try his luck at the blackjack tables. Naturally, the casinos didn’t think it would’ve been good for business to allow him to play seeing as how he had just shown to an audience of millions his abilities as a card counter. This is one of the few names on this list, probably alongside Ben Affleck, who didn’t receive too much rough treatment from the casinos. The Broadway Plaza staff actually escorted him out after providing him with some free food and goodies.

One Direction (Yes, the ENTIRE Band)

Ah, yes, One Direction. One of the biggest boy bands on the planet; or at least they were before most of their members decided to part ways and start individual careers of their own (and very successful ones, while we’re at it). It comes as a shocker that every single member of One Direction was actually banned from Las Vegas once. It happened a long time ago, and there are actually very good reasons for it: they didn’t know that the gambling age in the US was 21, and they visited the City of Sin back when they all were 18 years of age. As you can imagine, none of the casinos of Las Vegas could let them in, so their visit to the City of Sin ended up with them being locked in their $18,000-a-night hotel room. Oh, the perk of being rich! It does need to be said that the ban was sole because they were underage in America. As far as we’re concerned, the ban doesn’t stand to this day and it was a consequence of a judgment error.

Why do Celebs Get Banned from Casinos?

Even though one would argue that having a celebrity play in a casino would be good for the casino, there are still three main reasons why celebs get kicked out of casinos more often than you think. Not many of them get banned, as this list shows, but there are some reasons why famous actors and public figures could end up getting expelled from casinos altogether.

They Count Cards

Do you know what’s the easiest way to get kicked out of a casino? Counting cards. There are many people that are very good at counting cards when playing any table card game – especially blackjack. Even though the art of counting cards is technically not illegal (we’ll go into details about this later), counting cards is not something that casinos like their players to do. As such, if a casino ever finds out that you’re counting cards, there’s a very good chance that you’ll end up getting kicked out, never to return again. Those famous scenes in the movies where the casino staff approaches players and tells them that they “need to have a word with them” couldn’t come as close to the truth as they do. It is very likely that such a thing will happen to you unless you start losing money sooner rather than later.

They’re Winning Too Much

Celebrities tend to enter casinos with a ton of money, which means that it can go in one of two ways: they will either end up winning an insane amount of money and making the casino’s profits plummet the night of their visit, or they will end up losing the money that they’re playing with and the casino will end up keeping all of the cash. You can assume, by our short explanation, which are the types of players that end up getting kicked: those who are winning too much. This is partly what happened to Ben Affleck when he started counting cards and winning in blackjack. If a celebrity is playing in a high roller table, chances are that they will get kicked out of the casino much quicker because they would be making the casino lose much more money than it would be losing on an average table.

They’re Being Obnoxious

A common problem that tends to occur with celebrities, and one of the reasons many end up getting banned from casinos (minor celebrities tend to have this issue way more than big ones) is that they’re being rude to the casino staff – even when they are already being treated much better than other visitors of the casino because of how much money they have. One of the easiest ways to get kicked out of a casino is by being rude to the people that work on it. If a celebrity can get kicked, an average Joe will get kicked much quicker. Be sure to behave properly when you visit a casino and you should be able to stay out of trouble.

Is Card Counting Illegal?

Contrary to popular belief, card counting is not illegal at all. In fact, it can’t be illegal because it is fully done calculating the possibilities of certain cards popping up in a game of blackjack, but all is done within the mind of the person that is able to count them. However, that doesn’t mean that casinos like it when people count cards. This reduces the odds of the house winning money, which is not what the casinos like. Card counting is the main reason why people get banned from blackjack tables. In most cases, professional card counters not only turn the tides of the game against the casino, but they also end up walking away with a ton of money as a result of their efforts. It is very difficult to master this art but, should you be able to do it, you may want to try visiting a casino and try not letting the owners find out what you’re doing.

Best Casino Bonuses to Try Out

If you’ve come this far, then you’re probably more than keen on playing in the best online casinos already. There’s no better way to replicate the experiences that celebrities have in casinos and not having to face the risk of getting kicked after going on a roll. Given that online casinos are regulated by external entities that ensure full player safety, it makes it impossible for casinos to refuse to pay you for your winnings or, for one reason or another, kick you out before they pay you. Online casinos may still kick you out, but you have a much better chance of not getting banned from an online casino than you do from a land-based establishment – especially if you intend to play with a ton of cash and even more so if you’re a skilled gambler.

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Being Rich Doesn’t Make You Totally Immune – Our Conclusion

One would think that having all the money in the world would signify that any casino would be more than happy to open their doors to you but that’s not always the case (just ask any of the richest NFL players what they think) . As this article shows, some rich people have done their best to get themselves kicked out of some of the biggest casinos in the world, although some for shadier reasons than others. It doesn’t matter what you want to do with your money, just be sure that you don’t catch the eye of the casino’s staff or you will meet the same fate as someone like Ben Affleck. Thankfully, if you spend your money in the world’s best online casinos and you decide to stay away from the Vegas establishments, chances are that you’ll end up walking away with a big win without drawing too many eyes towards you. That’s just one more reason to play online casino games instead of spending your cash at a land-based establishment!

Last updated  March 5, 2024

Frequently asked questions

Ben Affleck was banned from playing blackjack on the premises for life at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino after a very successful gambling spree that saw him earn thousands of dollars in the casino's high-roller blackjack tables.

It is said that Ben Affleck is a very successful card counter, which makes casinos fear his presence. It is legal to count cards as long as you don't use a device to do it. Ben Affleck has an incredible memory, which allows him to memorize the cards that get discarded from the game and win. It may be legal, but casinos don't like it when it happens!

You can learn how to get better at blackjack here, or you can visit mBitcasino, Betsson, or for example Wildz to play blackjack online.

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About the author

Marco

Marco

Chief Content Writer

Marco

Chief Content Writer

Marco is an experienced casino writer with more than half a decade of gambling-related work on his back. He took a keen interest in gambling as a young adult and started writing expert content for the casino and sports betting niche in 2015. Now, he specializes in online slots, table games, and sports betting – producing well-researched content on all fronts of the iGaming world.

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