The CEO of United Airlines had a unique skill before heading one of the world’s largest airlines. Scott Kirby counted cards at blackjack tables. He said he’s no longer allowed to play the game at most Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos.
Kirby revealed his card-counting history earlier this year to the Wall Street Journal. The airline executive has been with United since 2016. He said a few years ago he visited the Bellagio during Super Bowl weekend to play high-stakes poker.
The casino informed him that he was welcome, but not at the blackjack tables. Apparently, Kirby is still persona non grata at some casinos.
“It’s been at least 15 years since I’ve played,” Kirby said. “But I’m in the database.”
Counting Cards
Card counting came into vogue after the publication of Beat the Dealer by Edward O. Thorp in 1966. The mathematician and professor developed what many consider the first system. He proved that savvy players could gain an edge on the house.
Thorpe used computers throughout the 1950s to prove his theory, testing his card counting skills at casinos in Reno, Lake Tahoe, and Las Vegas.
“I had heard that winning systems were supposed to be impossible,” he noted in his 2017 book, A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market. “I didn’t know why.”
Later practitioners fine-tuned Thorpe’s system, and counting teams like those at MIT have made major news and inspired films. While card counting isn’t illegal, casinos work hard to stop players like Kirby and Thorpe from reaping profits at their properties.
Ben Affleck was removed from a Las Vegas casino for counting in 2014, and a Colorado casino faced a lawsuit in 2023 over a counting controversy. High-stakes poker player Bob Bright told Card Player about his own life as a counter in 2018.
FedEx Founder Saved Company At The Blackjack Table
Kirby isn’t the first business executive to have an interesting gambling backstory. Fred Smith, the founder of Federal Express, found his company deeply in debt in the 1970s with just $5,000 in the bank.
A $24,000 jet fuel payment was due on Monday or the company would go bankrupt. A possible loan from General Dynamics didn’t materialize, so Smith took the $5,000 to Las Vegas.
“When I arrived back in Memphis on Monday morning, much to my surprise, the bank balance stood at nearly $32,000,” Smith was quoted by Roger Frock, one of Smith’s original managers, in his book, Changing How the World Does Business: FedEx’s Incredible Journey to Success – The Inside Story.
“I asked Fred where the funds had come from and he responded, ‘The meeting with the General Dynamics board was a bust and I knew we needed money for Monday, so I took a plane to Las Vegas and won $27,000.’”
No word if Smith was a card counter, but his skills at the blackjack table saved the company. By 1976, FedEx posted $71 million in revenue and today has a market capitalization of more than $73 billion. Smith passed away in 2025 at age 80.
