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.

It’s mailbag time.

Send in your questions now for this week’s episode of The Pindown: A Detroit Pistons Podcast. Please submit your question to the comments section here or on X/Twitter to @TheRealWesD3 and/or @blakesilverman.

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The Pindown: A Detroit Pistons Podcast Vitals:

When: Thursday September 12 at 6 p.m. ET

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Last Week’s Show:

Locally, it may seem like both Detroit Lions fans and analysts were a little let down by the team’s opening performance. They blew a 14-point second half lead, so that is certainly understandable in some fashion.

That said, beating an extremely motivated Los Angeles Rams team whose quarterback was absolutely cooking despite a decimated offensive line was impressive. And the national media seemed to grasp that in this week’s NFL power rankings round up. For most analysts, the Lions solidified their status as a top-three team, and anyone that had them outside of their top five corrected that error after watching them play on Sunday night.

Unsurprisingly, most of the praise came in the form of DAN CAMPBELL FOOTBALL happening in overtime, with Detroit’s run game looking unstoppable. Only a couple moved the Lions down a spot or two, but pretty much only had positive things to say.

Here’s a look at the Week 2 power rankings across the web:

MMQB: 2 (Last week: 2)

From Conor Orr:

How much of a flex was Dan Campbell’s team taking the overtime coin flip and absolutely jamming the ball down the Rams’ throats? The fact that Detroit can call on this physicality and ride it like a superpower during the more rigorous moments of the game should have put the league on notice. If that wasn’t scary enough, Jameson Williams is as good as advertised and is playing like he heard all the snide remarks while he rehabbed from a draft year torn ACL.

USA Today: 2 (Last week: 2)

From Nate Davis:

Did we mention this club might be unstoppable if WR Jameson Williams (5 catches for 121 yards and a TD in Sunday night’s win) consistently plays up to his ability? (Hint: We did.)

Yahoo Sports: 3 (Last week: 2)

From Frank Schwab:

There was a fourth-and-2 play early Sunday night in which the Lions ran it up the middle and got it. How many other teams would run up the middle in that situation? That’s what happens when you have what might be the NFL’s best offensive line. It was a precursor for overtime, when the Lions got the ball first and ran it on seven of eight plays to score the walk-off winner.

The Athletic: 5 (Last week: 2)

From Josh Kendall:

The Lions won the game with an eight-play, 70-yard touchdown drive in overtime. Seven of those plays were runs that covered 60 yards. It was Dan Campbell’s dream drive. This might be his dream team, too. Jared Goff was fine. David Montgomery had 91 rushing yards. Maybe most importantly, Jameson Williams had his first 100-yard receiving game, finishing with five catches for 121 yards.

The Ringer: 2 (Last week: 2)

From Diante Lee:

The eight-play game-winning drive in overtime perfectly captured what makes Detroit unique. The Lions offense changed gears in crunch time. They stopped looking for explosive plays in the passing game, opting to mash the Rams with seven runs that totaled 60 yards, culminating with a David Montgomery touchdown. Earlier in the game, Detroit gave us a glimpse of what receiver Jameson Williams’s combination of speed and route running adds to this offense, as he averaged an impressive 24.2 yards per reception. The threat of his field stretching alone will open the game up for tight end Sam LaPorta and slot receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown in the future.

The defense’s struggles in coverage in Week 1 made me consider moving the team out of the no. 2 spot, but I’ll wait to see its upcoming matchup with Tampa Bay before making any judgment on whether this secondary is in better shape than it was last season.

Sporting News: 3 (Last week: 3)

From Vinnie Iyer:

The Lions almost had a carbon copy tough test against the Rams at home like they did in the playoffs, but they once again dug deep and showed they can be resilient offensively and defensively — and work overtime if needed — under Dan Campbell.

The 33rd team: 3 (Last week: 3)

From Marcus Mosher:

The Detroit Lions got a gritty, tough win against the Rams on Sunday Night Football.

They held a 17-3 lead in the second half but needed overtime to take down Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford. Detroit is loaded with talent, and now it is finding ways to close out games they usually lose. That is a sign of a real contender.

NFL.com: 3 (Last week: 4)

From Eric Edholm:

The Lions won in a playoff-like atmosphere against a Rams team they barely put away in the playoffs eight months ago. It was not the explosive offensive performance we’ve come to expect from Detroit, but it was an impressive show of toughness and will nonetheless. I say it’s a good thing and a sign of relative growth that Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown can have the kinds of performances they did and the Lions can still win. The Jameson Williams breakout was a terrific development, and the run game closed it out. But that also doesn’t mean the secondary questions on defense have suddenly gone away. Matthew Stafford kinda gutted that group for stretches. First-round CB Terrion Arnold was up against it all night. The Lions are real, but they remain imperfect.

CBS Sports: 4 (Last week: 7)

[Editor’s Note: Prisco, who had the Packers #2 to start the year, dropped Green Bay all the way to 15th. lol.]

From Pete Prisco:

They nearly fretted away a lead against the Rams, but showed their physical toughness to win it in overtime. The pass defense has to tighten up a bit.