Do you Ever read Stock Market?

Yeah, whatever happened to just charging a modest late book return fee?  Now they're breaking kneecaps.

There might even be situations in which you could BS your way out of it even if somebody did walk up during the conversation:

"My librarian loves the Saints Plus Seven"

[passerby looks on quizzically]

"Yeah, that's the new book by Dennis Lehane, I hear it's really good."

ut-oh

you're talking about damageing body parts and mentioning the saints in the same answer,

Is Roger Goodell lurking here ?

LOL - "The Saints' Bounty" would be another good name for a novel.

Yea, kinda phony now how their acting like they did't know,

Get real, whenever you see a fight start in a game its because,

"that guy was tryin to take me out"

The bookies i knew in the 70s used the horses from a particular race for the #s

Then switched to the state #s to help their credability.

In the 30s they used the last dollar digit of the total daily handle of win, place, and show bets at a local race tracks. The stock exchange and bond numbers were used in cities without daily race tracks. There was a time when the bookies would spin a numbered wheel three times to create the number, but it was done in a closed door back room and was common for them to rig the results.

*sounds eerily familiar to RNG drawings.

Some books may have still used horse racing in the 70s but since not all tracks raced five days a week, and not all cities had year around racing, the bond or stock market numbers were the better option.

I was told by a bookie they switched to the state number to take advantage of the 40% vig. As a competitor, they paid $600 to $1, some gave their players six bets for $5, credit until payday, and some even would payoff in full right after the drawing. Compared to a local convenient store clerk telling a player they can't even cash a 50 box win, it's obvious why lots of players played with a bookie.

The bookies i knew in the 70s used the horses from a particular race for the #s

Then switched to the state #s to help their credability.

Well honey that works too!!!    Lottery numbers and Horses....

The bookies i knew in the 70s used the horses from a particular race for the #s

Then switched to the state #s to help their credability.

haymaker,

It used to be the last three dollar digits of the total mutual handle at a specified racetrack. The tracks rotated to avoid any collussion. AHEM!

The inside last page of the NY Daily News had the number. I remember 8 year old kids going into a candy store, looking at that page, and going. "Aw @!#!". Not a candy store / news stand on the East Coast would survive without booking action.

I'm a junior and was home on leave from the Army when NJ announced the state lottery. The phone rang and I answered it and a "Guido" character thought he was talking to my father and said, "Look "Joe", you play wid us and you get paid hard cold cash right away. If you wanna play with the state that's up to you but don't forget us." I said, "OK, but I think you wanted my father."

Usually with the "Outfit".

Where we lived in North Jersey there was a Catholic chucrch that took up just about a city block with the church and the rectory. (It's where the Mob had funerals and my mother always said that whoever sent the biggest boquet where the ones who bumped the dearly departed off, and the biggest boquet was a message.)

Across from the church was a candy store. One day my father goes in and then a priest and a cop come in. So all three of them start leafing through magazines and in a while the priest and the cop leave. The guy who ran the store, Red, is in hysterics. My father plays a number and asks him what's so funny. Red says, "The priest and the cop where both here to do what you just did."

haymaker,

It used to be the last three dollar digits of the total mutual handle at a specified racetrack. The tracks rotated to avoid any collussion. AHEM!

The inside last page of the NY Daily News had the number. I remember 8 year old kids going into a candy store, looking at that page, and going. "Aw @!#!". Not a candy store / news stand on the East Coast would survive without booking action.

I'm a junior and was home on leave from the Army when NJ announced the state lottery. The phone rang and I answered it and a "Guido" character thought he was talking to my father and said, "Look "Joe", you play wid us and you get paid hard cold cash right away. If you wanna play with the state that's up to you but don't forget us." I said, "OK, but I think you wanted my father."