What was 'the numbers racket' in Malcolm X?

The Numbers game is an illegal, low-cost lottery that often ran in slum areas of the United States. read more

The advantage of the numbers game was that you could place very small bets, unlike licensed gambling, so it was popular with the poor. “Numbers runners” would collect up the slips and money and take them to the headquarters that the lottery was being run from. Malcolm X had been a numbers runner. Follow the link for a lot more details. read more

The Spike Lee biographic film Malcolm X portrays some of the revolutionary black leader Malcolm X's early days in Harlem, where he worked as a numbers runner for a man named "West Indian Archie." The numbers racket is also portrayed in the 1997 film Hoodlum. In the 1999 film Liberty Heights, Joe Mantegna's character runs numbers game. read more

A “hit” in the numbers racket constitutes replicating the last three digits of the New York Stock Exchange total sales for the day. The odds of doing so are a thousand to one, and the payout is six hundred to one—a $1 hit pays $600. Many of Harlem’s businesses had been founded or bought out from previous big hits. read more