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GBH News

Never in American history has it been so easy to gamble, legally at least. We’ve got casinos, sports betting, online poker, keno — but it was all made possible by state lotteries, which brought gambling out of the shadows and into the public square — into the government itself. 

“Scratch & Win” follows the unlikely rise of America’s most successful lottery. We begin in 1970s Boston, with state bureaucrats going toe to toe with mafia bookmakers, and each other, as they struggle to launch the state's greatest innovation: the scratch ticket. But the story reaches all the way to the present moment. How do we feel about the gambling industry that lotteries helped summon into being? And should the state be in this business at all? 

“Scratch & Win” is made by the Peabody Award-winning team behind “The Big Dig,” produced by GBH News and distributed by PRX.

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Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jen McKim

Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Project Manager: Meiqian He

The Big Dig

Legal gambling is everywhere. But how did it get like this? And why can't we fully embrace it? 

"Scratch & Win" looks for answers in the unlikely story of America's most successful lottery, and the charismatic state treasurer who was determined to beat the mob at their own game. 

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Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss
Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins
Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss
Story Editor: Lacy Roberts
Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim
Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard
Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss
Project Manager: Meiqian He

Introducing: Scratch & Win

It’s 1974, illegal bookies are everywhere and the brand new state lottery is struggling to compete. But a simple piece of paper is about to change the game forever: the nation’s first scratch ticket. 

---------------------------

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 1: The Instant Ticket

When states got into the gambling business, they wanted the same thing organized crime wanted: money and power. The question now is who in government will get to wield that awesome power? 

---------------------------

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 2: The Lottery Czar

Before the Massachusetts Lottery can claim to be number one, they have to take out the competition. So in 1976 the state lottery challenges organized crime head on by copying their most popular game: 'the numbers.'

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Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 3: Have You Played Your Number?

The state lottery can’t run the mob out of the numbers business on their own. Luckily they’ve got help from the FBI, who are just launching a daring operation of their own – to bug the headquarters of the Boston mafia.

---------------------------

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 4: The Last Mafia Boss of Boston

The lottery was never just about stopping crime; it was about bringing in money. In 1980, an anti-tax ballot measure throws Massachusetts state finances into chaos, putting new pressure on the lottery to close the gap.

---------------------------

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 5: The Cherry Sheets

The Mass Lottery stumbles when it attempts to launch the nation’s first ‘lotto’ game. But that failure soon becomes an opportunity – and a national craze – when Treasurer Bob Crane brings in a new agency to take over the state’s marketing efforts.

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Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 6: The Game Dreams Are Made Of

By 1986 Treasurer Bob Crane has turned the lottery into the most successful operation of its kind, but now he’s in the fight of his political life with a challenger who says he’s the real crook. To cement his legacy he will have to win one last election, and it’s a dirty one.

---------------------------

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 7: The Dirtiest Race in the Commonwealth

Most lottery games follow a predictable life cycle: a burst of interest followed by a long decline. But something else happened with the scratch ticket, and it changed how every lottery in the country operates. 

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Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 8: The Other Massachusetts Miracle

Lotteries are part of a long trend toward more and more legal gambling: bingo helped open the door for lotteries, just as lotteries helped open the door for casinos. And by that logic, sports betting is just the latest addition to the trend. So why does it feel so different?

In the first of three interview episodes expanding on themes from the series, host Ian Coss speaks with gambling historian Jonathan Cohen about why this expansion of legal gambling is unlike anything that came before it.

Cohen’s new book "Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling” is out April 1st, 2025.

Why does sports betting feel different?

Last week, we heard about a movement to challenge the authority of government agencies and push power down to the people. This week, the story of a central figure in that movement: Ralph Nader. 

This episode comes from NPR’s Throughline, co-hosted by Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei.

How to sue the government, and win from NPR's Throughline

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