My friends get $100′: Ben Affleck reveals bizarre thing his 13-year-old wanted to spend money on, and it runs in the family

Ben Affleck was stunned when his 13-year-old son Samuel asked him for cash to bet on sports. The actor shared this surprising moment during his recent visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live. Samuel wanted $100 to place sports bets, just like his friends apparently do.

According to Page Six, Affleck told host Jimmy Kimmel that Samuel tried to justify the request by explaining his friends get the same amount. “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.’”

The strange request makes more sense given the family history. Affleck admitted that his own father, Timothy Byers Affleck, worked as a small-time bookie when Ben was growing up. This revelation explains where Samuel might have gotten the idea about sports betting.

Betting money paid for the family’s first appliances

Ben explained that his dad worked at a bar but mostly earned money through small-scale bookmaking. He remembered getting their first washing machine and VCR thanks to his father’s betting business. Affleck joked that they should thank Steve Grogan, the New England Patriots quarterback at the time, because people kept betting on the Patriots and losing.

The actor said this work was shameful and somewhat illegal back then. He quickly added that the statute of limitations has passed, so his dad shouldn’t face any legal trouble now. The family benefited from the Patriots being terrible at the time, with Grogan’s poor performance helping the bookie business. In other entertainment news, Jon Bernthal recently roasted Affleck’s dancing skills so hard on set he thought the scene would get cut.

Despite being a multimillionaire now, Affleck tries to raise his three kids with ex-wife Jennifer Garner in a down-to-earth way. He shares Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13, with Garner. The couple wants their children to understand the value of money and hard work.

About a year ago, Affleck refused when Samuel asked for a $6,000 pair of Dior Air Jordan 1 sneakers. He told his son the shoes were only appealing because of their high price. Samuel disagreed, insisting they just looked good, but Affleck said he’d need to mow many lawns to afford them. Speaking of celebrities facing consequences, Jimmy Kimmel won a major award months after ABC pulled him off air.

Affleck later told the Today show that parents hurt their kids by not teaching them about work. He believes children need to learn they must work for what they want. He told Samuel he’d need to work 1,000 hours at minimum wage for those expensive shoes, suggesting he might change his mind after seeing how much effort that takes. Violet and Seraphina have already started working jobs to earn their own money.