Bolita: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Bolita (Spanish for Little Ball), is a type of lottery which was popular in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries in Cuba and among Florida's working class Hispanic, Italian, and black population. Bolita was brought to Tampa in the 1880s, and flourished in Ybor City's many Latin saloons. Though the game was illegal in Florida, small, mobile operations which frequently moved around and eventually police payoffs were able to keep the bolita games running for a long time.

In the basic bolita game, 100 small numbered balls are placed into a bag and mixed thoroughly, and bets are taken on which number will be drawn. Many variations on this theme were created. Bets were typically very small and sometimes sold well in advance, and the game was not infrequently rigged, most simply by having extra balls of a given number and not including others at all.

The alleged king of Bolita in the 1920s was a native Tampa, Florida cracker, Charlie Wall. Italian mafiosi Santo Trafficante, Sr. and Santo Trafficante, Jr. also figured in the Florida bolita games.