Detroit, MI
Detroit native reminisces on height of illegal gambling in the city – City Pulse
By BILL CASTANIER
I had a great-aunt who ran a gambling operation out of a wallpaper store, and as a small child, I was fascinated by all the numbers she and her partner wrote on scraps of wallpaper. That’s why I anxiously awaited the publication of “When Detroit Played the Numbers: Gambling’s History and Cultural Impact on the Motor City,” by Felicia B. George. I was not disappointed.
George, a career law enforcement official and adjunct professor at Wayne State University, is a spot-on researcher who has turned her doctoral dissertation into a remarkable book on the history of the numbers racket in Detroit, a form of illegal gambling that was a huge part of the city’s cultural milieu until the legal lottery doomed its existence.
Without preaching, George makes the case that the implementation of the legal lottery system was a detriment to the city’s self-reliance. During its heyday, the numbers racket employed thousands of workers and poured money back into the city’s infrastructure and charitable institutions.
With facts and figures, the author shows how “money from Detroit numbers funded various businesses, newspapers, insurance agencies, loan offices, housing projects, prize fighters, night clubs” and much more.
She writes, “When the formal economy failed its citizens, the informal economy filled the void.”
For those who know nothing about how the numbers game is played and operated, George provides a primer in several chapters and describes how peoples’ processes for picking numbers evolved over time. Some selections were obvious, like a birthday or an anniversary, but other players turned to fortune tellers and church preachers for their picks.
Eliciting picks from dreams was very popular, as were “dream books” published by entrepreneurs. These books helped players interpret their dreams into numbers. For example, a dream where a dog appeared would become the number 73, according to “Old Aunt Dinah’s Policy Dream Book.”
In the early chapters of her book, George details how state-sponsored lotteries in the 1700s and 1800s were used to fund public works and even the American Revolution. By 1878, lotteries had been banned in all states except Louisiana, which continued its lottery until 1893.
With the lottery banned, Detroit turned to the numbers game, also known as policy gambling. Most of the activity was housed in betting parlors. By 1887, it was estimated that 160 “policy shops” were operating in Detroit.
The book reads like a true-crime thriller when George delves into the life of the legendary numbers kingpin John Roxborough, who ran the largest operations in Detroit from the 1920s through the mid-1940s, when he was arrested and imprisoned. Roxborough was also the co-manager of boxing champion Joe Louis, nicknamed the Brown Bomber. George explains how Roxborough used the profits from his numbers racket to support Louis on his climb to the championship.
The author also considers the sociological impact of Detroit’s numbers racket and how it provided hope for thousands of Black citizens trying to survive the daily grind. She quotes one newspaper as stating, “In the Negro ghetto, it was the only hope you could afford.”
For a nickel bet, one could win $25, with the odds somewhere around 1,000-to-1.
It probably goes without saying, but the rampant illegal gambling in Detroit wouldn’t have been successful without lucrative bribes to local officials to look the other way. In 1940, a former mayor, a former county prosecutor and many police officers and numbers operators were indicted, including Roxborough. Most received short-term prison sentences after a “spectacle for the public,” the author said of the trial.
George ends her book with a chapter titled “The State of Michigan: The Legal Numbers Man,” which details the state’s long process of trying to legalize the lottery. Success came in 1972 when voters overwhelmingly passed an amendment to the state constitution ending the 137-year-old ban.
The state’s first legal lottery pick was held in November 1972 and was a somewhat convoluted process that involved clowns and dancing girls in short skirts. The winning numbers were 130544, with the numbers 130 and 544 paying out $25 each to more than 25,000 players. Unlike the illegal lottery, there were no home deliveries of the payouts.
Detroit Tigers fans get pictures with tiger statue at Comerica Park
Detroit Tigers fans get their picture taken with the tiger statue outside Comerica Park on April 3, 2026 for Opening Day.
To many people, it makes no sense. Here was the seventh game of a 162-game baseball season, the Detroit Tigers had lost four of the six already played, yet seemingly the entire city converged on downtown Friday, April 3, to get into the stadium, or sit outside the stadium, or just hang around the stadium.
They stuffed bars and restaurants. They drank beer despite the early hour. They wore orange or blue clothing and caps with an Old English “D.” There is no way to count how many total people swarmed the streets, or how many of them had called in sick to their jobs to be here.
We call it Opening Day, and in Detroit it is virtually a holiday. Not elsewhere. Other cities don’t make this fuss. To many of them, going wild for the seventh game of the season makes no sense.
And that’s OK.
In fact, it’s perfect.
Far from the only nonstandard tradition
Opening Day made me think about how many things we do around these parts that are uniquely ours, traditions that we cherish but which don’t necessarily travel.
The Dream Cruise. It began as a charity event, and is now is a fixture on the August calendar. But if you tell someone in Boston or San Diego that thousands of people sit in lawn chairs along a busy boulevard to watch old cars drive past, you’ll get laughed out of the room.
The Independence Day Fireworks. Yes, other cities have them. No, they don’t have them in late June. We do. Supposedly we do this because of our proximity to Canada, which celebrates on a different schedule. Of course, Canada Day is July 1, and America’s holiday is July 4, so someone should explain how June got in there.
But, hey, maybe they shouldn’t. It’s our tradition. And that’s what’s important.
Sweetest Day. Hate to break this to area lovers, but that’s not really a thing in the most of the country.
Paczki Day – yes, it’s a way to celebrate Fat Tuesday, but it’s much bigger here in the Midwest than in other regions.
The Charity Preview at the Detroit Auto Show. That’s like the Motor City’s Met Gala, but it doesn’t exist elsewhere. And auto shows in general are not the must-see events they are in our town.
Traditions like throwing octopi at hockey games, singing “born and raised in South Detroit!” chanting “Onward Down the Field” when the Lions score or yelling “DEEE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALLLLLL!” are things you will not witness anywhere else.
And it may be a hot dog everywhere else, but it’s a coney here.
If all of this makes us quirky, well, quirky we should be. Because in a world of increasing homogenization, local traditions are in peril.
A taste for tradition
Consider what the internet and multinational corporations desire. Everyone on the same page at the same time.
Apple wants the whole world to line up at a given hour for the new iPhone. Taylor Swift wants the whole world hanging on her latest release. Local coffee shops get swallowed by chains. Local eateries surrender to fast food.
As someone who travels for work, I can tell you, decades ago when you went to the South, you heard different music on the radio. You went out West, you saw different retail outlets. You felt like an outsider. You felt like you were someplace new and wondrous.
Today, Nashville looks like Austin looks like Raleigh looks like Phoenix. There’s your P.F. Chang’s next to your Cheesecake Factory. There’s your Best Buy alongside your Costco. The goal of global economies is scale, big numbers, national – even international – audiences. Everyone wants to be the Super Bowl.
But what of the joy of regional customs? Local traditions? The food you can only get here, the music you can only hear there. As the internet shrinks our distance, it also fades our individuality.
When I was a kid in Philadelphia, they had a parade every New Year’s Day, where string bands marched and people wore these crazy costumes, painted their faces, and competed in different categories. It was called the Mummers Parade, and in my youthful naivete, I thought every city did this. Later I realized it was unique to Philly, and in fact, many outsiders found it silly.
Well, as Paul McCartney sang, it isn’t silly at all. Local color shades who we are. Local activities give us a sense of identity. Local traditions bind us to our hometowns, and our shared memories with neighbors.
So we can ask “Did you go to Opening Day?” around here and people know what we mean. There’s something precious about that. In an age of everyone buying from Amazon and eating at McDonald’s, we should fiercely protect what makes us unique.
So yeah, wearing a “Trammell” jersey or telling your friends, “I’ll meet you at Mario’s before the game for the lobster buffet” may make no sense to outsiders. Good. It’s not supposed to.
Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow @mitchalbom on x.com.
Alex Avila: Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander is leader as teammate
On “Days of Roar,” former Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila shares how legendary pitcher Justin Verlander has matured in his clubhouse leadership.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander has been placed on the 15-day injured list with left hip inflammation.
Keider Montero will be called up and is expected to start Sunday, April 5, against the St. Louis Cardinals at Comerica Park.
It will be retroactive to April 1, so the earliest Verlander will be eligible to return is April 16.
Verlander has already pitched once this season, although his first start was forgettable. He gave up five runs off six hits in 3⅔ innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He struggled with his command, throwing 80 pitches (53 for strikes) while recording one strikeout with two walks. Since then, he has worked on his mechanics.
“Head position,” he said Saturday. “Trying to be a little more deceptive and stay in line a little bit longer.”
The Diamondbacks hit Verlander hard, making contact with seven balls that featured an exit velocity over 100 mph.
“It wasn’t good enough,” Verlander said. “I hope it’s not like last year … months trying to find it. Hopefully I find it a little quicker than that. But yeah, you know, I think talking to analysts and those guys and the stuff is actually pretty good, so not too far away. I hope.”
Verlander, 43, signed a one-year deal with the Tigers this offseason, returning to the franchise he spent his first 13 seasons with. He made 29 starts in 2025 for the San Francisco Giants.
And he was expected to start Sunday night against the Cardinals in Comerica Park in front of a national audience on “Sunday Night Baseball” on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service.
Montero was optioned to Triple-A by the Tigers on March 4, with the franchise planning on him as their No. 6 starter in the rotation.
“We’ve got to protect our rotation,” Hinch said when Montero was sent to Toledo. “For him, defining the role where we felt like he can help us the most was going to be, at some point, in our rotation. Whether that’s getting called up as a sixth starter, or god forbid anything happens, he’s equipped to handle that, and the only way to do that is get him going and building him as a starter.”
In 2025, Montero registered a 4.37 ERA with 31 walks and 72 strikeouts across 90⅔ innings in 20 games (12 starts) for the Tigers. He also logged a 5.91 ERA across 42⅔ innings in 10 games (eight starts) for Triple-A Toledo.
Montero has made one start for Toledo, throwing four scoreless innings against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on March 29. He struck out three with one walk.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff
Detroit, MI
‘Downtown Takeover’ in Detroit leads to several teens being detained, dozens in the streets
Crowd of teens out past curfew detained downtown
The incident was not random, as ‘Ceasefire Detroit’ announced that there were talks of a “Downtown Takeover” involving kids and teens. Throughout Friday evening, videos from social media showed large groups of teens running around in the downtown area past curfew.
DETROIT (FOX 2) – Dozens of teens swarmed Downtown Detroit, leading to a heavy police presence in the area.
What we know:
The incident was not random, as ‘Ceasefire Detroit’ announced that there were talks of a “Downtown Takeover” involving kids and teens. Throughout Friday evening, videos from social media showed large groups of teens running around in the downtown area past curfew.
Detroit police say a gun was fired during the commotion but no one was hurt. Police are working to determine who fired the shot. Police sources also told FOX 2 that officials have been tracking the kids and teens around the city all night.
Meanwhile, officials have been detaining teens, but due to the large number of people, they have been placed on buses.
What we don’t know:
It is unknown if anyone got hurt or how many people were detained/arrested. FOX 2 will update this report when we learn more.
Watch FOX 2 Detroit LIVE:
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