Luck’s Children

On the streets of Cuba, collectors take bets and hand them off to messengers, who bring the money to the bankers—those who bankroll La Bolita, an underground, illegal, three-number lottery game played by people around the island twice a day, every day. This essay, excerpted from The Hidden Island by Abraham Jiménez Enoa and translated by Lily Meyer, takes us behind the scenes of the game and direct to those who play.

A visibly drunk man appears at the back door. Very quietly and seriously, he gives Yasmany a list of numbers and a five-peso bill. Shortly after, a teenage boy wearing only frayed, ratty shorts arrives with a list that he says is his grandmother’s. A neighbor pops by to greet Yasmany’s mother and asks how Yasmany can still be doing accounts this late. It’s only 7:18, says Yasmany; he’s got more than enough time to wrap up and deliver the money by 7:55.

In the twentieth century, when Cuba was a neocolonial property of the United States, the game was run by men who sold small, numbered balls called bolitas, hence its name. A ball cost anywhere from a cent to a peso. You could hear the winning numbers on the radio or public-access television. Unlike the state lottery, which cost much more, even the poorest people could play.

When Castro took power in 1959, his government concentrated on eliminating Cuban society’s issues. Gambling was among their early targets, but rather than defeat it, their policies just made it mutate. La Bolita, formerly a free pastime, turned into a criminal enterprise, and its players learned to hide from the law.