Nobody mentioned the numbers game at the plants. I worked at the Dearborn Engine Plant in 1994 when I was fresh out of college. There was a guy who rode a bicycle from station to station all day. He took down numbers on a white pad of paper. Had purple carbon paper and he'd write the person's number, fold over one sheet, tear off the other sheet and move to the next guy.

I was told that the State Lottery paid $5000 for the 4-digit straight whereas the plant lottery paid $8000. There were guys who'd put $20 a day on their number. I never heard of anybody hitting it big. I was told the protocol was that the money would be there in cash the next morning. The winner would give some money to his friends, some to his foreman and some to the numbers guy. He'd then split for the day or else people might be waiting to knock him over the head later in the afternoon. I was told there was a numbers guy for every plant.

My next job was at NBD. One of the tellers said her family collected some of the plant money. She said they were computerized and when one number was played too much then they would hedge it by playing the state lottery.