policy shop

English

Etymology

From policy (“illegal lottery”) + shop.

Noun

policy shop (plural policy shops)

1. (obsolete or historical, US) A gambling place where punters could bet on the numbers which would be drawn in lotteries.
   • 1856, New York (State) Legislature: Senate, Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, Volume 2, page 212,

     In lottery and policy shops do they not generally stick up an exchange sign, and hold out “stationery sold here,” so that persons who did not understand it would suppose they sold stationery?

   • 1873, Timothy Shay Arthur, Cast Adrift, page 232:

     The policy-shops draw from the people, especially the poor and ignorant, hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

   • 1901, New York (State) Legislature: Assembly, Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Volume 28, page 2031,

     Policy is open, but policy, of course — it is harder to get into policy shops than it is into any other sort of gambling, […] .

   • 1999, Don Liddick, The Mob's Daily Number: Organized crime and the numbers gambling industry, page 26:

     In New York and Philadelphia, the number of policy shops during this time period ranged from 600 to 1,000, with numerous outlets in other major cities.

References

• “policy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.