bug
n.— «The numbers game (known also as policy, clearing house, the bug, butter and eggs and other names) operates every day except Sunday throughout the year, players wagering anything from a penny upward on a three-digit number (000-999).» —“Lotteries Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” by Ernest E. Blanche Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science May, 1950. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...