When Detroit Played the Numbers: Gambling's History and Cultural Impact on the Motor City

by Felicia B. George

A testament to the tenacious spirit embodied in Detroit culture and history, this account reveals how numbers gambling, initially an illegal enterprise, became a community resource and institution of solidarity for Black communities through times of racial disenfranchisement and labor instability. Author Felicia B. George sheds light on the lives of Detroit’s numbers operators--many self-made entrepreneurs who overcame poverty and navigated the pitfalls of racism and capitalism by both legal and illegal means. Illegal lottery operators and their families and employees were often exposed to precarity and other adverse conditions, and they profited from their neighbors’ hope to make it through another day. Despite scandal and exploitation, these operators and their families also became important members of the community, providing steady employment and financial support for local businesses. This book provides a glimpse into the rich culture and history of Detroit’s Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods, linking the growing gambling scene there with key characters and moments in local history, including Joe Louis’s rise to fame and the recall of a mayor backed by the Ku Klux Klan. In succinct and engrossing chapters, George explores issues of community, race, politics, and the scandals that sprang up along the way, discovering how "playing the numbers" grew from a state-proclaimed crime to an encouraged legal activity.

269 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 26, 2024

Reviews

[Jamesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felicia B. George is a passionate researcher whose love for Detroit and the history of The Numbers is evident to anyone who is fortunate enough to hear her talk on the subject. Thank you to Next Chapter Books in East English Village for hosting a wonderful talk with the author.

[April Baer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent cultural history of gambling games in Detroit, with a wider ride to the rule that they’ve played in American culture. I really like the mix of scholarship and oral history in the second half of the book.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently researched and written Detroit history. And a reminder that the past is never as flat and one-note as text books might have us believe. Here the perspective is that when numbers operators were local and altruistic then playing the numbers provided economic benefits to the black community.

[Tc · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE LOVE LOVED this book. It's history about community, that should be in our history books! You really get that neighborhood feeling reading this book about the numbers game - which of course was later legalized after the State took it over. *eye roll* Great history.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars