Running the Numbers

"Strictly and widely illegal, the most common manifestations of urban gambling were once "the numbers game" and "policy," in which people would place daily bets on random numbers, through community institutions, such as newsstands and barbershops. Gambling became one of the largest economic activities and sources of employment in some nonwhite neighborhoods-and therefore it drew intense police interest. Some of the most corrupt and blatantly discriminatory police actions centered on gambling and its practitioners. The state's interest doomed urban gambling, as many states coopted the market with their own hugely lucrative lotteries. A game that first flourished in poor and nonwhite urban communities has become America's game"--