numbers racket
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈnʌmbərz ˈrækɪt/
- Archaic
:
lotería ilegal
- That family has been running the same numbers racket for decades.
- run a numbers racket
- illegal numbers racket
- Harlem's numbers racket
Examples
-
The police shut down the illegal numbers racket that had been targeting vulnerable communities.
-
The numbers rackets faced a potential crisis: #
Academic text (2016) -
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines the word policy in several ways that are not germane to arts education, as, for instance, in insurance or in reference to the numbers racket.
Academic text (1993) -
" In fact, their policies have subordinated the truth to political expediency and replaced the concept of merit and the principle of equal opportunity with a numbers racket that blatantly apportions benefits according to sex, race, and ethnicity.
Academic text (1997) -
Lemgruber reported, "The police are entering into other areas because they lost the money from the bicho, the jogo de bicho, the illegal numbers racket, which they always considered a complement of their salary" (Lemgruber 1987, 25).
Academic text (1996) -
He made a fortune by running a numbers racket, which eventually led to his arrest.
-
After years of investigation, the authorities finally dismantled a large numbers racket operating in the city.
Synonyms
199
2.3
A game where people buy numbered tickets and winners are chosen by chance
49
4.4
A game where players mark numbers on a card and hope to win money
46
7.8
An illegal business that makes money by scams or threats
1
9.0
An illegal lottery where people bet on numbers to win money
1
5.3
A group of people who secretly run illegal betting, like on sports or card games
An illegal daily game in cities where people bet money to guess the winning digits
An illegal game where people bet money on numbers
Surface Forms
Morphology
Here 'numbers' denotes an illegal lottery and 'racket' denotes an illegal scheme; the compound simply names a racket involving numbers betting. Because the MWE's meaning follows directly from combining those constituent meanings in a regular noun+noun composition, a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer the expression.
Etymology
Numbers racket comes from old street lotteries where people bet on a few numbers, often run secretly by gangs. Because it was a dishonest, organized business and a racket, the phrase now means 'an illegal lottery or betting operation'.