Numbers game

The numbers game, also known as the numbers racket, the policy racket, the policy game, the Italian lottery, or the nigger pool, is an illegal lottery played mostly in poor neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the following day. In recent years, the "number" would be 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. A gambler places a bet with a bookie at a tavern or other semi-private place that acts as a betting parlor.

A runner carries the money and betting slips between the betting parlors and the headquarters, called a numbers bank or policy bank. The name "policy" is from a similarity to cheap insurance, both seen as a gamble on the future.

Old Policy Wheel is a 1935 painting by Walter Ellison, depicting a scene in a Chicago basement betting parlor.

The game of numbers is referenced in Wynonie Harris's song "Grandma Plays the Numbers".

The 1948 film noir Force of Evil revolves around the numbers racket, with the plot hinging upon the workings of policy banks. The film tells of a gangster who is trying to take over all the banks in New York City by rigging the mutuel numbers to come up 776 on Independence Day. Since everybody plays those numbers for the Fourth of July, the banks will go bankrupt filling the policies.

In the 1972 film Shaft's Big Score!, John Shaft investigates the death of his friend, Cal Asby and discovers that while Asby appeared to be a beloved community member, he was also tied to a local numbers racket. A scene shows a character going door to door in a housing project, collecting money and handing out numbered slips. Missing money from this local numbers game is central to the film.

In the film The Godfather, Sonny and members of the Corleone family discuss the fact that black gangs have taken over their "policy banks" due to the turmoil caused by the gang wars between the Corleones and other New York Mafia families.

A subplot of the August Wilson 1990 play Two Trains Running involves several characters placing numbers bets with a bookie character Wolf. One character, Sterling, has the goal of marrying one of the other characters, Risa, should the number she gave him win.

The Spike Lee biographic film Malcolm X portrays some of the revolutionary black leader Malcolm X's early days in Harlem, where he worked as a numbers runner for a man named "West Indian Archie."

The numbers racket is also portrayed in the 1997 film Hoodlum.

The episode Fahrenheit 932 in CSI Las Vegas investigates the murder of a runner.

In the 1990 film Goodfellas, one of young Henry Hill's first jobs working for the Mob is running the numbers.

In the 1978 film adaptation of "The Wiz" the Good Witch Of The North, Miss One, is a number runner, and her entire personality, way of speaking, and wardrobe is built around numbers.