Gonna be a long post, sorry in advance if i go on a tangent but i can talk gambling for hrs.

im gonna assume you have some basic gambling/lottery knowledge.

It is just like book in that the actual operation would vary. You had a book like fat tony who had a few hundred runners and a dozen spots/parlors... Then u had the neighborhood grocer who was his own bank and wrote all his action by hand. Mostly receipts werent given out unless it was a parlor or a bigger runner. Records were kept by runners and offices. They had to. They needed a tally sheet that they could look down at every number from 000-999 and see how much action was on each number. The payout on a straight up hit was 600-1. The odds were 1000-1. Which theoretically made a profit of 40% on all wagers. Theoretically, also w/out expnses. Runners/agents/writers (all names for the same thing) got from 10-25%. Bigger operations had packages of runners or routes. This is say 5-6 guys in one neighborhood that were serviced by another runner, who acted more as a super agent, and he got a percentage on all his runners balances. The runners would turn the action over to the office, who would tally it up, and lay off what they didnt feel comfortable carrying. Most numbers were 600-1, but there were cut numbers like 500 or 999 or something common only got 400-1 or so. Just like a pick 3 u can box them as well. Back in the day, like 40-50s, u could bet a nickle. My dad calls it something funny i couldnt repeat on this board ha. Avg bet was a dollar or two a day. Big bets could be in the hundreds. Big lays went to the thousands. You could bet in credit, bet for the whole week, bet by the phone. Today they will do the state pick 3 even on sites iv seen. But THE number. The one everyone used is the handle (total wagers) for the day at a certain racetrack, i forget which days it goes around, like monmouth, or aquaduct, etc. They called it the brooklyn number actually. They used this exclusively in jersey from the 70s on. This was what they used in jacksonville, eastern virginia, delaware co penn.... Before brooklyn number they did like some total of different races for one number at a time. For an example, you gary went down to the corner and said to the bartender at wherever, give me 245 for a dollar, 690 for 2, and 410 for 5 all week. 8 dollars times 7 days a week is $56, what you owe him at the end of the week if nothing hits. Say on one day u hit 690. You would go down in a day or two and collect on your play. $2 x 600=1200 minus 54 dollars.... $1146 in ur pocket.

Territory was only carved up when one family controlled the entire neighborhood with a few crews. (westside manhattan, 1970s) As today runners/associates are the only territory these guys acknowledge.

Gonna be a long post, sorry in advance if i go on a tangent but i can talk gambling for hrs.

im gonna assume you have some basic gambling/lottery knowledge.

It is just like book in that the actual operation would vary. You had a book like fat tony who had a few hundred runners and a dozen spots/parlors... Then u had the neighborhood grocer who was his own bank and wrote all his action by hand. Mostly receipts werent given out unless it was a parlor or a bigger runner. Records were kept by runners and offices. They had to. They needed a tally sheet that they could look down at every number from 000-999 and see how much action was on each number. The payout on a straight up hit was 600-1. The odds were 1000-1. Which theoretically made a profit of 40% on all wagers. Theoretically, also w/out expnses. Runners/agents/writers (all names for the same thing) got from 10-25%. Bigger operations had packages of runners or routes. This is say 5-6 guys in one neighborhood that were serviced by another runner, who acted more as a super agent, and he got a percentage on all his runners balances. The runners would turn the action over to the office, who would tally it up, and lay off what they didnt feel comfortable carrying. Most numbers were 600-1, but there were cut numbers like 500 or 999 or something common only got 400-1 or so. Just like a pick 3 u can box them as well. Back in the day, like 40-50s, u could bet a nickle. My dad calls it something funny i couldnt repeat on this board ha. Avg bet was a dollar or two a day. Big bets could be in the hundreds. Big lays went to the thousands. You could bet in credit, bet for the whole week, bet by the phone. Today they will do the state pick 3 even on sites iv seen. But THE number. The one everyone used is the handle (total wagers) for the day at a certain racetrack, i forget which days it goes around, like monmouth, or aquaduct, etc. They called it the brooklyn number actually. They used this exclusively in jersey from the 70s on. This was what they used in jacksonville, eastern virginia, delaware co penn.... Before brooklyn number they did like some total of different races for one number at a time. For an example, you gary went down to the corner and said to the bartender at wherever, give me 245 for a dollar, 690 for 2, and 410 for 5 all week. 8 dollars times 7 days a week is $56, what you owe him at the end of the week if nothing hits. Say on one day u hit 690. You would go down in a day or two and collect on your play. $2 x 600=1200 minus 54 dollars.... $1146 in ur pocket.

Territory was only carved up when one family controlled the entire neighborhood with a few crews. (westside manhattan, 1970s) As today runners/associates are the only territory these guys acknowledge.

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?

Yes of course it did, but not at the level of white flight and gentrification imo. it is more a blue collar persons game. It is huge in minority nhoods. There are more advantages playing the number.

I have mixed opinions on sports. Sports has always been a game for everyone, white and blue collar workers. Hispanic guys love soccer, black guys love boxing, dont get me started on the chinese. It crosses racial and economic barriers. I think legalization will hurt locals business but create more potential customers at the same time. The big problem is gonna be, just imo the middling by the sharper players between the state lines.

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).

I'm sure you guys have heard of the infamous 666 lottery fix here in PA. I remember my uncle said he got a call from his guy,and he told my dad that Tony Grosso (the main numbers guy in Western PA at the time) said not to pay off on any 666 bets. Had Nick Perry and his crew not been so stupid and greedy,they could have picked up about a million dollars on legal state Lottery bets,but they got nuts and tried to play both legally and with the street books.If you don't know the 666 story,check it out. The method they used to pull it off was ingenious,but they wound up getting caught.

On the subject of better odds paid by the street bookies,it's generally true,however,some numbers that receive heavy play (like trips,especially 7's) are called "cut" numbers. We used to pay 400 to 1 on cut numbers,but the upside for the player is that when the State shuts off sales of numbers like 777 three hours before the drawing,the bookies will still take your action until about 15 minutes before.

I'm sure you guys have heard of the infamous 666 lottery fix here in PA. I remember my uncle said he got a call from his guy,and he told my dad that Tony Grosso (the main numbers guy in Western PA at the time) said not to pay off on any 666 bets. Had Nick Perry and his crew not been so stupid and greedy,they could have picked up about a million dollars on legal state Lottery bets,but they got nuts and tried to play both legally and with the street books.If you don't know the 666 story,check it out. The method they used to pull it off was ingenious,but they wound up getting caught.

On the subject of better odds paid by the street bookies,it's generally true,however,some numbers that receive heavy play (like trips,especially 7's) are called "cut" numbers. We used to pay 400 to 1 on cut numbers,but the upside for the player is that when the State shuts off sales of numbers like 777 three hours before the drawing,the bookies will still take your action until about 15 minutes before.