A question for Skinny or others that would know. How much did the legal state lotto affect the numbers racket? You can still see examples of illegal numbers gambling busts, LCN-connected and otherwise, but it had to have some affect, did it not?
My father and his brother had a nice size numbers book that operated both before and after the legalization of lottery in Pennsylvania.It took some of the "play every now and then" business away,but really didn't affect the regular business too much.
The main reasons were:
The state didn't allow you to run a tab on your bets.
You could still bet dimes and quarters if you wanted.
My uncle didn't collect tax on your winnings.
You could bet the same three digit number four different times each day if you wanted,ie.Old stock, New stock, Town race and ***race. (Sorry,the last one would narrow down both who and where I am,not a good thing to do on the Internet).
