A black hole does have something in its center. That something is tiny in size compared to the mass it has. It is a dot in the center of a sphere not a destination at the end of a tunnel.
Graphics depicted to show gravity show only one plane of the effects of gravity.
In reality it is the same effect on any approach to the source. Therefore it affects matter in any direction. Top, bottom, sides and any angle you can imagine.
The matter doesn't go into the black hole, it falls onto it. As the mass increases, gravity shrinks the mass to smaller and smaller sizes. When it reaches singularity it is believed to exit this dimension. No matter which dimension it is in, if it is still a black hole, it has mass and exerts gravitational influence on matter that enters it's event horizon. The event horizon is not a circle it is also a sphere. Graphics depict it as a circle because showing it in 3d is not needed.
When the graphics depict a funnel shape from event horizon to the singularity it is trying to show you that the gravitational pull is centering the incoming mass to the singularity.
The effect of this is called spaghettification. Coined by Stephen Hawkings. It means that a mass being pulled onto a black hole diminishes into an atom wide stream as it gets closer to the gravity source. That reduction in width resembles a funnel. Your bowling ball breaks apart to the size of a base ball, then a ping pong ball then a pebble and so on until it reduces to a single atom stream. As this happens it creates heat. So not only is your ball being pulled apart it is heating up.
Gravitational waves have now been proven to exist in the Universe. That means that all mass exerts gravitational effects on all other mass. Earth's orbit is in place as it is not only because of the Sun but because of all other matter as well. Including dust and gasses. It is the other matter and the speed of its orbit that reduces the orbital decay.
The entire Universe is moving. The Sun moves up and down as it circles the Milky Way and the Milky Way parabolic movement coincides with its neighboring dwarf galaxies. Andromeda Galaxy is larger than the Milky Way. They will collide eventually because both are moving towards one another.
The Milky Way has a super-massive Black Hole in its center. The singularity in its center is less than an atom in size but it's sphere of influence is what is massive because it has massive mass.
As mass comes together it starts to form a ball and it doesn't come together all at once. The ball starts to spin from the lopsided buildup of mass. That causes mass in its range of influence to circle it in an orbit. As the object collects more and more mass its gravity increases and orbits decay unless another speed, mass or group of masses influence the decaying orbit.
The reason the Moon is not decaying its orbit onto the Earth is because when it was formed the impact sent it into an orbit that has higher velocity than the mass of the Earth can influence. Its spinning around us too fast. If the Moon were slowed down, it would reach a point where the mass of the Earth would decay its orbit and it would eventually impact the Earth. It is why satellites fall back to Earth if the orbit is not maintained, its not the distance its the speed/mass ratio.
Dark Matter is a term coined to allow focus to the theory of another force influencing the movement of the Universe. When/If we ever figure out what that influence is, a different term will be used, its a placeholder. Like Dark Energy. A Black Hole is a placeholder as well. It is not a hole and is not black. It is empty and since there is no information to be seen we call it black. Science knows it is a singularity. It is called a singularity but the popular term that caught on with the public is Black Hole.
Black holes are super hot. If they are viewed in the Gamma, they appear white. They appear to be holes because matter disappears after it reaches the event horizon. That is because the light can't escape to travel back to the instrument being used to observe it. Black Holes can be observed using gamma detection.