{{hatnote|"Cut number" redirects here; "cut number" also refers to the codes used to identify [[list of pasta|pasta varieties]].}}
The '''numbers game''', also known as the '''numbers racket''', the '''policy racket''', the '''policy game''', the '''Italian lottery''', ',<ref>{{cite book|title=The new Partridge dictionary of slang and unconventional English: J-Z, Volume 2|year=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mAdUqLrKw4YC&pg=PA1370&lpg=PA1370&dq}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Vol. 2|year=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NgIYlUbaoAoC&pg=PA921&lpg=PA921&dq|editor=Cary D. Wintz and Paul Finkelman}}</ref>, is an illegal [[lottery]] played mostly in poor neighborhoods in the [[United States]], wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the following day. In recent years, the "number" would be the last three digits of "the handle", the amount race track bettors placed on race day at a major racetrack, published in racing journals and major newspapers in New York. A [[gambler]] places a bet with a [[bookmaker|bookie]] at a tavern or other semi-private place that acts as a betting parlor.
A [[courier|runner]] carries the money and betting slips between the betting parlors and the headquarters, called a numbers bank or policy bank. The name "policy" is from a similarity to cheap insurance, both seen as a gamble on the future.<ref>Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. Facts on File, 2005, p.336</ref>
