
Running an Underground Lottery in Detroit - whatami
https://www.insideedition.com/the-secret-life-of-a-woman-who-ran-an-underground-lottery-in-detroit-57077
======
gwern
> Although illegal, Bridgett said that “running numbers” wasn’t seen as bad
> within the black community. It allowed many black businesses to be funded,
> provided jobs, and helped many financially — her family included. “[The]
> NAACP, that really important black organization that's been around forever,
> they were funded in the early years by numbers men and women, that numbers
> money,” Bridgett said. “So it was circulating throughout the community and
> those dollars were turning over a lot. And that keeps a community thriving.
> Because you know if you hit the number and you have some extra money, maybe
> you'll go to Sarah's beauty shop and basically get your hair done a little
> more often.”

Classic broken windows fallacy. Everyone who lost would get their hair done a
little less often at Sarah's beauty shop, and then you have the large cut
which made it so profitable to run and expenses like bribes...

~~~
kaopuheike
Yeah weird the article didn't push back. Lotteries don't create wealth (except
for the person running the lottery). If NAACP was funded by a tax on the
innumerate and superstitious, well fine. That's how many states are run. But
don't pretend its somehow virtuous.

------
saturdaysaint
My grandmother grew up in Detroit in the 1920's/30's and speaks fondly of the
neighborhood numbers man, as if he was an upstanding member of the Italian-
American community.

------
jdefelice
Criminal has a podcast episode about this.
[https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-108-the-
numbers-2-15-2019...](https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-108-the-
numbers-2-15-2019/)

------
kaopuheike
I suppose its better that a tax on the innumerate and superstitious gets
collected by a community member who has some skin-in-the-game when it comes to
the community's health, as opposed to outside organized crime or local
government, who have an indifferent or outright hostile attitude towards the
health of that community.

------
RickJWagner
Growing up in a rural area, I always wondered what 'the numbers racket' shown
on tv meant.

I seriously doubt the NAACP was funded by it, though. The enterprising types
who establish such ventures don't seem big on sharing.

~~~
exolymph
Wouldn't be surprised if it was a bootleggers and baptists kinda deal. That's
how nonprofits are think-tanks are generally funded (and it's not
_necessarily_ a bad thing — depends on what the donor(s) want to get out of
it).

------
Alinax
Underground lottery has existed throughout history and continents, it is a
form of gambling that has always been frowned upon by greater society, but
accepted as a social thing between community members.

~~~
dmix
Lottery's are basically an extra poverty tax. That said, we've all basically
accepted that _concerned citizens_ know what's best for other people. Even if
they really enjoy it, it's voluntary, and mostly harmless.

Instead of enforcing the bad actors people love to just straight up ban things
like that. For their own good, etc.

------
Udo
I had to look this up, because the article doesn't really explain it very well
(maybe it's common knowledge, but not to me): it seems the numbers "drawn"
were usually taken from a publicly verifiable source of randomness. In many
cases that was apparently the last three digits of the number of bettors who
participated at major race tracks that day, and that number was widely
published. In that regard it seems a pretty well tamper-resistant game.

~~~
dghughes
I used to work at a lottery Corp here in Canada. Years ago when speaking with
the compliance officer we discussed one of the local draws (the lottery itself
is national).

The big "bingo machine" used has balls in it that are mixed then one falls
out.

The balls were locked in a safe between uses. In a locked room. In a building
with security and many cameras. Each door had a door swipe with each user
having specific security clearance.

What I found amusing was the balls were cleaned and weighed (yes I made a
joke) before every use.

That doesn't even get into the machine itself. I've worked on slot machines so
I am sure the bingo machine thing would have security seals on all the
EEPROMs. And the EEPROMs would be verified often if not before each draw.

Now imagine the rules and procedures of an underground lottery.

~~~
Udo
_> Now imagine the rules and procedures of an underground lottery._

That's what makes it so fascinating. The bingo ball machine concept you
describe requires _a lot_ of trust, that's why so much effort has to go into
continuous verification. As resiliency goes, this isn't really a feature.

The underground lottery is interesting precisely because it requires
comparatively little trust, and the trust it _does_ require is based on
reputation and decentralization. For example, as a numbers player, you would
be placing your bets with the same banker, one who you know has always paid
out in the past, and who has personal ties to you and your neighborhood. The
data source and hence the information about whether or not you won is public
and hard to fake.

What makes numbers an illegal racket probably has more to do with low payout
ratios and the fact that it's not linked in with the tax system (also, it's an
unregulated chaos of private persons conducting it).

~~~
Spooky23
The difference is the numbers man works with the loan guy, and when you get in
over your head, you get beat up.

------
MadWombat
A rather old song about it :)

[https://youtu.be/m136JOv3z6w](https://youtu.be/m136JOv3z6w)

