Originally appeared on E! Online
Samuel Affleck was hoping to capitalize on Ben Affleck‘s goodwill.
But when the 13-year-old asked for some money to gamble, the Oscar winner was quick to shut down his son’s shocking request.
“My son asked me like a month ago, was like, ‘Hey, um, can I get like 100 bucks to bet on sports?'” Ben shared on the Jan. 5 episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” “It’s like, what?”
He recalled his and ex-wife Jennifer Garner‘s youngest telling him, “‘My friends get $100, but if they lose it, then that’s it.'”
Ben — also dad to kids Violet, 20, and Seraphina, 17, with the “13 Going On 30” actress — was taken aback by their son’s ask.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a real standard, what discipline! Like, so that you don’t come twitching back going,'” he emphasized, “‘I know that Green Bay is going to cover the over in the second half.'”
The “Good Will Hunting” star pointed to his own father Timothy Affleck — who was formerly a bookie — adding, “There’s a reason your grandfather’s broke!”
READ: How Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck’s Daughter Violet Affleck Is Forging Her Own Path
For Ben, gambling was a big part of his and younger brother Casey Affleck‘s childhood.
“My father worked at a bar, but mostly made his money sort of being a small-time bookie,” he explained to host Jimmy Kimmel. “I remember our first washing machine, our first VCR, in fact, Dad coming home like, ‘You can thank Steve Grogan for this,’ the quarterback of the Patriots.”
“Everybody keeps betting the Patriots to beat the spread,” he continued. “And so I really was grateful that the Patriots were terrible—just thank Steve Grogan’s knees for our VCR.”
But it wasn’t lost on the 53-year-old that the gig wasn’t above board.
“It was straight-up illegal. It was criminal,” he added, before teasing, “I mean, the statute of limitations has run out. Sorry, Dad!”
Samuel’s latest request wasn’t the first to make Ben stop in his tracks. In fact, the teen previously asked for $6,000 sneakers.
“What are you gonna do, mow lawns? You got $6,000?” the “Gone Girl” actor recalled of his response on Today with “Jenna & Friends” in April. While Samuel argued that they had enough money for the shoes, Ben quipped that he told his son, “I have the money! You’re broke.”
After all, the dad of three emphasized that it would be a disservice not to set financial boundaries with his kids.
“He’s reckoning with that reality right now,” he added. “He’s looking at no shoes in his closet — well, he’s got shoes, just no crazy expensive fancy shoes — and I’m like, ‘Well, if you want that, you can work 1,000 hours.’ You know what I mean? Minimum wage. And once you work 1,000 hours, you may not want to spend that on a pair of sneakers.”
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