numbers game

British  

noun

1. Often shortened to: numbers.  an illegal lottery in which money is wagered on a certain combination of digits appearing at the beginning of a series of numbers published in a newspaper, as in share prices or sports results

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Example Sentences

"In Lloyds, it will simply become a numbers game and staff will be hounded out of the business. We've seen it before," it said.

From BBC

“It’s just a numbers game there,” O’Brien said.

From Los Angeles Times

You start to understand that it’s systemic, and it is a numbers game.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s a numbers game, meticulously filling notebooks in handwriting Silverman describes as “tiny letters all perfectly the same size,” then revisiting and sharpening material until the joke emerges, like a vision.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead, groups like Sumner’s, such as the Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen, ignored what was going on in the mainstream altogether, leaving the numbers game to pop music.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• gambling
• raffle
• sweepstake