verb. (American).—To gamble in lottery numbers: see quot. Also as subs.: whence POLICY-SHOP = a lottery office.
1882. J. D. MCCABE, New York by Sunlight and Gaslight, xxxix. 550. POLICY DEALING is one degree lower in infamy than the lottery business…. The game consists in betting on certain numbers, within the range of the lottery schemes, being drawn at the noon or night drawing. Seventy-eight numbers usually make up the lottery scheme, and the policy player can take any three of these numbers and bet that they will be drawn, either singly, or in such combinations as he may select. The single numbers may come out anywhere in the drawing, but the combination must appear as he writes it in making his bet. He pays one dollar for the privilege of betting, and receives a written slip containing the number or numbers on which he bets. If a single number is chosen and drawn, he wins $5; two numbers constitute a ‘saddle,’ and if both are drawn the player wins from $24 to $32; three numbers make a ‘gig,’ and win from $150 to $225; four numbers make a ‘horse,’ and win $640. A ‘capital straddle’ is a bet that two numbers will be among the first three drawn, and wins $500.
