Whatever happened to the numbers racket?

[usedtobe]

Trivia:

Now you know why the DJIA is reported to only two digits.

It was originally 3, but made the racket real easy to play - they needed another 3-digit bit of trivia which anyone could easily verify.

[hogarth]

@Northern_Piper

Previous thread: Does the numbers racket still exist?

And the most interesting cite from that thread:
Relics of the Bygone (and the Illegal)

[Shinna_Minna_Ma]

@Charlie_Wayne

As I understand it, there was a time (I’d guess that was in the 30s and 40s) when this was a very popular racket and many people would wager a dime or some other small amount of money almost daily. They hoped for the thrill of winning $60 when picking the right number and wagering a dime.

My father told me several times that as a kid he would run errands for some guys running a numbers racket in Baltimore.