Thousands of celebrities have enjoyed the action and thrills of gambling. While most of these people enjoy a casual experience at casinos around the world. There have been some celebrities that have been asked to leave the venue. Some have even been banned from casinos for life! Some celebrities were asked to leave a casino due to bad behavior and others were caught cheating at the tables. No matter the reason, here is our list of well-known people that have been barred from playing at land casinos in various locations.
Allen Iverson
Best known as the NBA star who led the league for scoring in four various seasons, Iverson is also an avid gambler. While he behaves well on the court, his gambling etiquette leaves much to be desired. He has been banned from casinos in Atlantic City and Detroit for throwing cards and chips at dealers. At the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, now known as the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
The casino paid Iverson a $10,000 payout for a bet that he did not win. He refused to return the money, which led to him being kicked out of the casino. The former basketball star spends a lot of time gambling but is known to be a poor loser. He has frequently been warned about poor behavior at the tabled and is disruptive and rude to dealers and other players. Iverson loves gambling so much he skipped a BIG3 game to play at a casino in Illinois back in 2017.
Ben Affleck
If you have ever played the game of blackjack at an online or land casino, you will have heard of card counting. While this strategy can be used when playing live dealer games online, it is greatly frowned upon in land casinos. Ben Affleck can contest to this as this famous actor was asked to leave the tables when playing at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas. The management of the casino took notice of Affleck’s counting abilities and politely told him he was no longer welcome at the blackjack tables.
Affleck was not banned from the casino or kicked out, but he was not allowed to play any blackjack games.
Affleck has been asked not to enter other casinos around the world due to his card counting abilities. In addition to being an avid blackjack player Affleck is also a fan of poker and was the winner of the 2004 California State Poker Championship. He was also part of an underground poker ring with other celebrities like Tobey Maguire, Alex Rodriguez, and Matt Damon. Affleck can still be found playing games at online casinos and poker rooms. Check out this page to learn of some of the great online poker options that are available at leading casinos.
Rapper Lil Wayne
Since the age of 9, Lil Wayne has been rapping and has had an incredibly successful career. With a new worth of $150 million, his rapper is also no stranger to playing casino games. While he is a millionaire and a star, this does not give him any free passes at casinos. In 2010, Lil Wayne was banned from the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas for reasons that were undisclosed. Some speculate the ban is associated with his former probation terms, but there has been no formal report n this. At this time, the Wynn is the only casino that has banned the rapper and he can be found hitting the tables at other casinos in Vegas.
Paris Hilton
For more than 10 years, Hilton has been in the public eye and is known for making headlines and starring in The Simple Life, a reality television show. Initially, Paris was the heiress to the Hilton Hotels franchise. That as until her grandfather decided to donate her inheritance to charity. Back in 2006, Pairs was playing at the family casino in Vegas when she was banned from the casino per her grandfather’s orders. She was blowing small fortunes on bets at the poker table and even wagered and lost a $175,000 Bentley during one of the high stakes games she often plays in. Paris was also banned from playing at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore casinos due to an arrest pertaining to drugs.
Dana White
You may know Dana White as being the President of the UFC, but he is also a high stakes blackjack player. He is known to be one of the best blackjack players at the tables, which has been great in terms of payouts, but it has also gotten him banned from some casinos. White is often found playing in marathon blackjack sessions where he will wager as much as $25,000 per hand. With a net worth of over $400 million, he can afford it, but the casinos can’t!
White has won so much that he makes casinos nervous. In 2012, The Palms decided White was winning too much from the tables and banned him from the casino. This Vegas casino allowed White to play for many years, winning several million on the tables. To curb his winnings, the casino cut his maximum bet limit down to $5000 per hand. This infuriated White and he stopped running all UFC fights on the casino property.
Wrapping it Up
Many celebrities often enjoy special treatment no matter where they go and they are usually willing to spend a lot of money. However, being rich and famous does not give any pass to get away with things at a casino venue. Many celebrities have been banned from casinos all over the world over the years for various reasons. Be it bad behavior or cheating, casinos have no problem turning away these stars.
Not only will cheating and treating dealers poorly get celebrities banned from casinos, but advantage play is also considered. Casinos want to limit the amount they have to pay in winnings. When celebrities like Ben Affleck or Dana White are playing, they are too good for the blackjack tables and end up costing the casino millions. But this does not mean that they stopped gambling, after all there are online sites such as davecroupier.com where they can still play their favourite games.
With some big names now banned from land casinos, these celebrities often turn their attention to online gambling and can be found taking seats at leading poker rooms and online casino table games.
