Numbers game

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The numbers game, also known as the numbers racket, the Italian lottery, Mafia lottery, or the daily number, is a form of illegal gambling or illegal lottery played mostly in poor and working-class neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the next day. For many years the "number" has been the last three digits of "the handle", the amount race track bettors placed on race day at a major racetrack, published in racing journals and major newspapers in New York. In the loosest sense of the word "racket", the numbers game is a common racket or ongoing criminal scheme among organized crime groups, especially in the U.S. Gamblers place bets with a bookmaker ("bookie") at a tavern, bar, barber shop, social club, or any other semi-private place that acts as an illegal betting parlor. Runners carry the money and betting slips between the betting parlors and the headquarters, called a numbers bank. Closely related is policy, known as the policy racket, or the policy game. Policy was a popular game, particularly in Italian-American and African-American communities, in cities across the U.S. such as New York (Harlem specifically) and Chicago. The name "policy" is based on the similarity to cheap insurance, which is also a gamble on the future.