The policy game was the most popular and most organized form of gambling in the black neighborhoods of Chicago.
The terms “policy” and “numbers” are often used interchangeably, although they in fact refer to two distinct games. The policy game appeared in different forms in northern cities during the nineteenth century, taking a
consistent shape during the 1870s as a practice of betting on combinations of three numbers between 1 and 78.
If a player’s three numbers appeared among the twelve winning numbers drawn, then this bet, called a “gig,” yielded somewhere between $150 and $300 for a one-dollar bet. A bet on two numbers, known as a “saddle,” paid less, while a bet on four numbers, known as a “horse,” paid more.
During the nineteenth century, the winning numbers were drawn in Kentucky; results were transmitted by telegraph to the many
cities in the North, where illegal policy shops dotted the landscape. At different points in time, in different cities, policy sellers divorced the game from the Kentucky drawings and generated their own winning numbers through the turning of a drum, called a wheel. A number of black
Chicagoans operated their own wheels by the beginning of the twentieth century, and their results earned trust and favor among black bettors.
By contrast, in New York, the policy game was dominated.by white gambling figures. The African American New York.population bet the game heavily, yet few black New Yorkers could be counted among the game’s entrepreneurs. Thus,.when the similar game of “numbers,” with preferable odds
and an inherent fairness, appeared in Harlem during the early 1920s, black bettors quickly abandoned the policy game and transferred their gambling allegiance to black entrepreneurs selling the new game.
After the game of numbers eclipsed the older policy in New York, the state
government neglected to create a new category of criminal gambling. Rather, those arrested for dealing in numbers were actually arrested for violation of laws against policy.
While the game of policy faded from the New York streets, the terminology persisted.
The Harlem numbers game was considerably simpler than policy. Numbers relied on neutral published figures to
generate winning digits.
In contrast, policy outfits spun their
own wheels to generate the winning numbers, and thus the game was not immune to occasional fixing or foul play. Each wheel in Chicago also had its own winning numbers for the day, while in New York, one set of winning figures prevailed
across the city.
The simplicity and fairness of the numbers
gave it an inherent advantage over policy, and the numbers easily swept policy aside in many cities.
In Chicago such was not the case. In the Windy City, the older, more complicated game held strong among black
bettors. The loyalty of the South Side to the policy game was rooted in the tradition of black enterprise in gambling. As the
numbers spread from city to city, policy maintained its position in Chicago because it was intertwined in the political, economic, and social structure of the community. In
African American Chicago neighborhoods, policy was a mainstay of working-class leisure, a bulwark of legitimate business, an organizing element of politics, and a vital
source of employment.
