Lucan left Brandt's in about 1960, shortly after he had won £26,000 playing chemin de fer. A colleague had been promoted before him, and he protested and then gave up his job, saying, "Why should I work in a bank, when I can earn a year's money in one single night at the tables?". Lucan travelled to the US, where he played golf, raced powerboats, and drove his Aston Martin around the West Coast. He also visited his elder sister Jane, and his former guardian, Marcia Tucker. On his return to England he moved out of his parents' home in St John's Wood and into a flat in Park Crescent.