numbers games

Noun

numbers game (plural numbers games)

1. A lottery in which bettors attempt to guess which numbers will later be drawn randomly; especially, an illicit one.
   • Back in that day, mafias ran the numbers games and there was no such thing as a state lottery.

   Synonyms:

   numbers[Appendix:Glossary

2. The incorrect use of statistics (numbers) to reflect a desired result (usually misleading).
   • They're playing a numbers game to make it look like seat belts and vaccines are dangerous.
3. An activity that benefits from having many things to work with or on; a focus on quantity.
   • In this business, breakeven is a numbers game: if you can achieve enough volume, you'll be all right.
4. (uncommon) A game or sport that is dominated by analytics.
   • Somehow, to me, it's not quite as fun now that they've turned it into a numbers game.