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.