Ben Affleck's 13-year-old son asked him for money to bet on sports

09 Jan 2026 By foxnews

Ben Affleck's son has a new hobby, which he may have picked up from his grandfather.

During a recent appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" the 53-year-old actor shared that his son has started to show an interest in sports betting, something which runs in Affleck's family.

"My son asked me like a month ago, [he] was like, 'Hey, um, can I get like 100 bucks to bet on sports?'" Affleck shared. "It's like, what? [He's like,] 'My friends get $100, but if they lose it, then that's it.' I'm like, 'Oh, that's a real standard, what discipline! Like, so that you don't come twitching back going, 'I know that Green Bay is going to cover the over in the second half.'"

Earlier in the interview, Affleck shared that his father also had a special interest in gambling, revealing that while his father "worked at a bar mostly," he made a lot of "his money sort of being a small-time bookie."

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He explained that "at the time it was, like, shameful and kind of illegal," but then quickly apologized to his dad for outing his illegal activity, adding, "I mean, the statute of limitations has run out."

"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 [on] the Patriots to beat the spread,'" Affleck said. "And so I really was grateful that the Patriots were terrible; just thank Steve Grogan's knees for our VCR."

When his 13-year-old son asked him for money to place a bet, Affleck joked he told him, "There's a reason your grandfather's broke."

The "Good Will Hunting" actor also shares Violet, 20, and Fin, 16, with his ex-wife, actress Jennifer Garner.

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The father-son-duo went viral in March 2025, when Samuel was caught on camera asking his dad if he could buy him a pair of $6,000 Dior sneakers while the two were out at a sneaker convention. Upon seeing the hefty price tag, Affleck told his son, "That's a lot of lawns you gotta mow there."

"That's what happens when you tell a motherf---er they have to mow a lawn," he told Access Hollywood about the viral moment at the time. "All of a sudden they don't want those shoes, and he was like, 'But I always said they were tough.'"

He asked the reporter if she had any children, then explained, "It's always some grift why I need to be … I'm like, 'Man, you do not need thousand-dollar shoes!' He's like, 'We have the money.' I'm like, 'I have the money, you're broke!'"

Garner and Affleck were married for nearly 10 years before announcing their separation in June 2015. They met while filming the 2001 movie, "Pearl Harbor," and began dating in 2004.

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Following their divorce, Affleck reunited with his former fiancé, Jennifer Lopez, in April 2021, shortly after she called off her engagement to former professional baseball player, Alex Rodriguez.

They got married in a small ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada in July 2022, before throwing a larger celebration a month later at Affleck's estate in Georgia. The two were married for two years before Lopez filed for divorce in August 2024.