Quoth was excited, it had taken a lot of persuading, and cajoling and a lot of planning and organizing, but finally Captain Stubbing had given him the go ahead. The best of it all was that this game was so deceptively simple, everyone would be playing, and they might even make a few millionaires along the way. The Numbers bank was set up and ready to roll, and an infallibly random system had been determined..

Quoth smiled as he handed out bundles of flyers to the runners. As each got his bundle he smilled brightly, turned and ran into the streets to spread the word... MRs first true Numbers game was coming to town...

New Orleans Praetorian Numbers Game

Starting Friday October 15th, The Praetorian Guard, in conjunction with the Cohors Praetoria will be starting the very first numbers Game.

'What is a numbers game?' I hear you ask. Well a Numbers game is a traditional form of Mafia business and gambling where people wager money on the outcome of a basic 3 digit number, like 777 or 666 or 123.

Ah, so this is another Lottery then? No, definitely not. A Numbers game is much simpler than a Lottery, and the odds of winning are substantially higher than those of a Lottery. Also, Lotteries have fixed ticket prices and fixed prizes based on a percentage of ticket sales. Numbers isn't like that. You pick any number between 000 and 999, and you decide how much you wish to wager, between $1 and $25,000. We offer simple odds of 100-1. So if you bet $5 on 123, and 123 is the winning number, you win $500. Easy!

I'm not sure about this, it sounds too easy, and far to easy for you to rig. Those are fair points. However, as Captain Stubbing always says, "Simplicity is the way to go..." why do you think he Authed Derek? As for easily rigged, well we have a fool proof system that guarantees this game can't be rigged! Its based on the Dow Jones.

At the close of trading, the Dow Jones publishes four figures. The closing Price, the Opening price, the High price, and the low price.

It looks something like this:

10944.72 +193.45 (1.80%) 5 Oct 16:02 ET
Open: 10752.78
High: 10965.61
Low: 10711.12

We will take the last digit of the Open, High and Low prices, and that is the winning number. So yesterday's winning number would have been 812. Simples. This way anyone who plays can verify the winning number, and you just don't have our word that we didn't cheat.

Sounds good, so how do I play? I thought you might ask that. Well it too is simple. The winning numbers will be based on the number published by the Dow Jones every Friday, the first Friday being the 15th October. You have until 12pm (MRT) Thursday to buy your number. To Buy your Number simply send a message to me, Quoth the Raven, with the number you wish to play, and the amount you wish to bet up to a maximum of $25,000. Then have your accountant transfer the funds to me directly. I will then mark you wager in the log books of the Numbers Bank here in New Orleans. Winners will be paid by return transfer the Saturday after the numbers are published.

It really couldn't be any easier. So what are you waiting for.

The first draw is Friday the 15th, could you be first to win $2.5 million?

This game will be very interesting Quoth, has many people entered?

can you play more then one set of numbers?

Quoth turns to see Vireka standing there.

Interesting question Mr Vireka, and the answer is yes, you can play as many numbers as you wish. So if you feel like betting 10k on 10 numbers, that is perfectly fine. It would obviously have a dual effect. Raising your odds of winning, but reducing your profit if you do. In fact I positively encourage people to bet on all 1000 numbers.

Quoth smiles as he says this and quickly scans the crowd to see if there is anyone foolish enough to do so

We have had a few entrants already, perhaps not the raging torrent I had hoped for, but we only launched last night, so I am still quietly hopeful. Feel free to ask any other questions you can think off.

while listening to Quoth answering my questions another  one comes to him.

can people choose the same numbers?

thanks for your time.

Another good Question Mr Vireka. There is no problem with people choosing the same number. If 5 people chose the number 555, and the winning number is 555, then they will each be paid out according to their bet. Again this isn't a lottery where if multiple people won, then the amount paid out would be divided up between them. This is the Numbers game, and your bet is exactly that, your bet and no one elses.

Oh right thanks

i'll take 666 and 356 and i'll put 5k on each. i'll have my accountant wire it over to you.

Resurgam stands scanning through the leaflet just handed to him and asks...........

So, should there be no winners at the end of the lottery for that particular week. Will the total takings be "consumed" into the Praetorian vaults, or will a percentage of this be used the following week so as to increase the return against investment from 100/1 to say 150/1, and maybe also increase the levels of interest? I believe I`ve heard the term "rollover" for such an activity.

In addition I would like to point out that the actual odds for a win are..............Resurgam scratches a few numbers down on his notebook.............. 1 in 999

Would you offer anything on the matching of 1 or 2 numbers in order to increase the odds?"

Again this isn't a lottery where if multiple people won, then the amount paid out would be divided up between them.

Well in my eyes, if more then one of my players have the correct 5 numbers, both will be paid the lottery amount in full. So before you say something to the public, make sure you do your research bud.

theres 3 numbers not five, what are you talking about? my head hurts.

Mr Andolini, I made no reference to 'your Lottery', I made reference to 'A Lottery'. The standard rules of a Lottery state that Winners share prizes which is what I was making reference to. If your Lottery works differently, then that's good for you, however I believe you should ensure that supposed accusations are leveled at you directly before getting your panties in a bunch and accuse someone of slander.

If I had wanted to make referece to your lottery, I'd have mentioned that your maximum prize is only $1 million where as ours is $2.5 million. I would have mentioned that the odds of winning your lottery is 759375-1 where as my Numbers game is 1000-1. However The New Orleans Numbers Game is just that, The New Orleans Numbers game, and it stands on its own merits. I do not need to denigrate my competition for everyone to see clearly that ours is the superior game.

Please feel free to enter a number yourself, it might help provide insurance for you should you suddenly have a glut of winners in your Lottery... bud!

Im glad someone brought back the numbers game I used to read my fathers journal all the time and he said they were quit popular in the day, with 2-3 being ran from different outfits.

Thank you Bic. I always thought there was nothing as straight forward and obvious as a simple numbers Game. Variable prices, Simple odds, only 1 number to pick. I mean, honestly, would you play a game that gave you less than a 1 in three quarters of a million chance of winning?

Sees signs up for the The Philly Mega-Million Quick Draw and raises his eyebrows in surprise

I see, apparently you would. Good luck with your new business venture Mr Bic.

actually after the tinkering my team did the odds are now 1 in 50 you'll win. no other game in town has odds like that. only 2 out of the 3 numbers have to hit and theres only 30 numbers now. we'll the egg heads tell me its more like 1 in 50.1 but you get my drift.

Hmmm, a 1 in 50 chance of winning is fairly good odds. Especially as the prize you offer is 75 times the cost of a ticket. Best of luck to you my friend.

After listening to all the commotion and questions Alabama sits silently waiting for mr Raven to answer Resurgasm's question...

Quoth looks momentarily startled as he realises he has completely ignored his old friend Resurgam. Quickly scanning his memory, he dredges up the overlooked questions.

I'm sorry Resurgam, can you ever forgive me for ignoring you? I kinda got caught up in my discussion with Vireka and Bic.

Alas, there is no roll over. The reason being is that we are never likely to raise enough money from the sale of Numbers to cover our payout if some one wins. Even with the maximum bet of $25k we would still need to sell 100 numbers just to break even.

However, all bets are guarenteed at paying out at 100-1 odds, regardless of entrants or ticket sales. Already some tickets have been sold for just a few hundred buks, and a few at the maximum stake of $25k.

Likewise I can't allow you to recieve a prize on 1 or 2 numbers becvause you are only picking a single number. However, after careful consideration, I would offer an each way bet of sorts, so that if the number generated was 1 either side of your number, we would also pay out. However, due to the increased odds of you wining, I would decrease the payout to 30-1.

Whilst we may no longer offer the best odds of winning, thanks to Mr Bic, we do still offer the largest guarenteed prize, $2.5 million vs 1 million with Mr Andolini's Fat Chance Lottery and $500k-1.5 million with Mr Bic's.

Again my apologies for having ignored your valued input for so long my friend and I hope that you can forgive me.

`tis of no significance my friend, I have myself been quite busy getting my head around all the various odds that are currently being offered. Thankyou for your reply.

I can understand the confusion over all the different odds being thrown around in this conversation but they're all unimportant except for one. 100-1. That's the only one you have to know for this numbers game. You pick your number and place your bet on the number up to $25,000 and if you get the correct number you win 100 times what you bet. It's as simple as that. It doesn't matter what anyone else does. You get paid 100-1.

TCL takes out an abacus and frowns to himself.

The odds of hitting a number in this game is 1000:1 and yet the payout is a paltry 100:1.

I'm surprised people are actually playing this, if not only to donate.

That's not bad odds TCL given some of the other games out there to play. We have a game offering $1 million for a 25k bet, with odds of 759000-1. Personally I think the chances of winning in the Numbers game are substantially higher.