My parents actually banned face cards at our house, and they still generally avoid them on an “appearance of evil” basis. I always thought that was dumb, because it’s just as easy to gamble with numbered cards as with face cards. The design of the cards isn’t an issue, nor even the mechanics (i.e. highest scoring hand wins), but with the actual gambling aspect to it.

I have a zero tolerance for gambling in my house, but we use face cards regularly, and I’m happy to play Balatro w/ my kids. In fact, I’ve been meaning to, I just have other games to get through (currently Hogwarts Legacy and *Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom). They like to watch me play, and Balatro would be really interesting to them since they love math.