# Running Numbers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-numbers/260551 "2004-08-19T14:33:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-numbers/260551/1 "2004-08-19T14:33:08Z")
Often in movies or TV shows that deal with gangsters/mafia back in the 20s-30s, the make reference to a racket known as “running numbers.” From the context (and from various Google searches), I’ve been able to determine that it is some kind of illegal lottery. Which aed me to the following questions: 1. How are the winning numbers determined? Did the Mob use ping pong balls? 2. Why would someone have any faith that the Mob was picking these numbers entirely at random, and not just picking numbers that no one else had picked and/or picking numbers that enriched their friends or other business associates? ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-numbers/260551/2 "2004-08-19T14:44:32Z")
Have you being watching the same movie as ticker? [Posted Yesterday](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=271729) ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-numbers/260551/3 "2004-08-19T14:47:36Z")
> [@Ponster](#): > > Have you being watching the same movie as ticker? > [Posted Yesterday](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=271729) Man, how’s that for a coincidence? Sorry about that. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-numbers/260551/4 "2004-08-19T14:55:03Z")
From [http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters\_outlaws/gang/harlem\_gangs/3.html?sect=25](http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/harlem_gangs/3.html?sect=25) > [@](#): > > Black crime in America was independently run and usually involved such traditional vices as thievery, gambling, prostitution and robbery. Bolito (the numbers game) and drugs became key factors in the evolvement of black organized crime during the 1920s and 1930s. According to Francis A. J. Ianni, in his book Black Mafia: Ethnic Succession in Organized Crime, “By 1925 there were thirty black policy banks in Harlem, several of them large enough to collect bets in an area of twenty city blocks and across three or four avenues.” More than 800 runners (bet collectors) spent each day hurrying back and forth between betting customers and the policy bank (clearing house). Bets could be made throughout Harlem’s beauty parlors, bars, restaurants, pool halls, barber shops, drugstores, cleaners, stores and other business establishments. Runners even went to people’s homes where they could place bets right at their doorsteps. and > [@](#): > > The game is played by players betting on a series of three numbers from 0 to 999. Numbers runners would collect the money from the bettors each day, leave each bettor a receipt from what was called a “policy book,” and then take the cash and policy book to the clearing house, also known as a policy bank. A player would win if his/her numbers matched a preset series of three numbers, which were found in daily newspapers as the last three digits of either the NYSE total, U.S. Treasury balance, or total bets at a selected racetrack. The numbers game seldom favored the players because the results were often “fixed.” Interestingly… > [@](#): > > White organized crime gangs were not interested in the numbers racket because they considered it a small change operation for only the poor. Malcolm X, before his personal turn-a-around, was a Harlem numbers runner. ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-numbers/260551/5 "2004-08-19T14:58:56Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Malcolm X, before his personal turn-a-around, was a Harlem numbers runner. I remember seeing that in Spike Lee’s film, but it wasn’t clear to me what exactly he was doing. Thanks.