POKER-THE NUMBER GAME

POKER -All About Number

The most popular form of lottery played anywhere in the world today is our own Numbers game. My survey shows that during 1973 almost three out of every eight persons who gamble in this country played the numbers. These 36 million Americans, of whom 15 million were women, wagered the gigantic sum of $10 billion in an effort to hit the elusive three digits that would pay off.

The Numbers game has different names among various segments of the population: Policy game, Mutual Numbers, Negro Numbers, Policy racket, Numbers racket and others. Foreign-born Latin Americans call it Bolita; the winners in this Latin-American lottery are usually determined by drawing small numbered balls from a box. The operators and their employees and the majority of players refer to the game simply as “the Numbers.” Most journalists, law-enforcement agents and government officials call it the Numbers racket or the policy racket.

Today’s Numbers game is a variation of the Italian national lottery (see page 207) which has been in existence since 1530. In America, during early colonial days, clandestine lottery operators, like their English contemporaries, permitted players to wager on two or more numbers of their choice, the winning numbers being determined by the last two or three numbers of the first-, second- and third-prize numbers drawn in some legal lottery.

Since most players played a combination of digits derived from the five-figure number on their weekly lottery ticket, this illegal wagering was called “insurance betting” and the operation itself was known as “policy shop,” both terms deriving from “insurance policy.”

In 1973, the $10 billion numbers handle in the United States was greater than the total handle of all the combined foreign government- sponsored lotteries in Europe, Asia and Latin America plus the privately operated Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes and the legally run football pools in England and other European countries.

The largest handle of any type of lottery outside the United States, contrary to the statements made by some so-called gambling experts, is grossed by the British football pools. The eight major pools took in $339,360,000 in 1972. The players got back 50% of this ($169,680,000) in prize money, called ‘dividends.” About 30%, or $101,808,000, went to the government in taxes, 17%, or $57,691,200, went for overhead, and the legal limit of 3%, or $10,180,800, to the promoters as profit. The top prize award for a two pence wager can run as high as $1,500,000 or more.

The $10 billion U.S. Numbers handle for 1973 broke down approximately as follows: 47% came back to players as prize money; 40% paid salaries, operational expenses, lawyers’ fees and fines: 7% ($700 million) was retained by the operators as profits. The final 6%, or $600 miffion, went to corrupt politicians and law-enforcement agents as the illegitimate tax called graft or ice. It is called ice because it is used to cool off the officials so the heat won’t go on.
The state and Federal share in taxes was: 0%.