Don’t expect to spot Amy Poehler at the craps table.
The actress discovered she’s no fan of gambling while filming “The House” — a casino-based comedy that hits theaters June 30.
“We had to spend some time in Las Vegas,” she told the Daily News. “I realized that I get too grouchy when I lose my money. Like my trip is ruined when I have to hand over my money to a man in a shiny vest. I would much rather have a very fancy dinner and go see Britney [Spears].”
In “The House,” Poehler, 45, and Will Ferrell star as a married couple who discover that the scholarship they were counting on for their daughter’s college tuition hasn’t come through. So they open an illegal casino in the basement of their neighbor Frank’s (Jason Mantzoukas) suburban home. Naturally, things don’t go according to plan.
“If you take anything away from this movie — it’s never too late to make a bad decision with the one you love,” Poehler laughs.
The comedian — best known for starring in “Parks and Recreation” and being a “Saturday Night Live” cast member — admits that the main reason she signed on for the flick was to play opposite Ferrell.
The two haven’t worked together much — their time on “SNL” only overlapped by a year and they both appeared in the skating comedy “Blades of Glory.”
“He can play super alpha-maniac and then really dumb low-status guy,” Poehler said. “He’s just the funniest, a great person. I think we work in a similar way. We like to work hard and be nice, normal people.”
Poehler, whose impersonations on “SNL” included Hillary Clinton, was an ardent supporter of the presidential candidate and hosts a website called “Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls,” which showcases women who are “changing the world by being themselves.”
The actress admits to being disheartened by the election — “so much of the first half of this year has been recovering from shocking rhetoric,” she says — but adds that what really helps her get through it is spending time with famous pals like Rashida Jones and Tina Fey.
“The news is so bleak, everybody feels so desperate and in these times, deep, hearty laughs feel like oxygen. Sometimes they feel like things that can get through grief,” Poehler said.
Poehler, who has two sons, Archie, 8, and Abel, 6, with ex-husband Will Arnett, remembers keeping her sons up to watch the election results.
“The night turned into a complete disaster where I had to remind them that they’re white boys who are going to grow up to be white men and they’re going to have to decide what kind of men they want to be in the world,” she says. “You try to create little compassionate people and try to keep them tenderhearted for as long as you can. God, it’s hard.”
When they’re looking to lighten things up, Poehler and her kids watch “The Simpsons.”
This summer, Poehler, who now lives in L.A., looks forward to visiting New York.
“The secret is to go in the summer,” she says. “Everyone has split the city. There are tourists, but you can just push them out of the way.”
And as for the wafting odors of urine and rotting garbage that are amplified on city streets in summer, Poehler’s not concerned.
“Look, if you want to win the beauty pageant, go live somewhere else,” she says. “New York is the best, best, best city in the world.”