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. 

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.

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.'

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? 

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. 

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: Jen McKim
Fact Checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard
Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss
Project Manager: Meiqian He

Heads up: in two weeks this feed will transform into a new show produced by the same team as the Big Dig. It's called Scratch & Win. Stay tuned.

Just dropping in to share some news about the show, and what's coming next. 

An episode from a new GBH News podcast about reparations: "When a City Tries to Heal Itself"

Boston, a city entrenched in the history of the American Revolution, creates a task force to explore the city’s history of slavery and economic discrimination and to consider reparations for Black citizens. The effort is delicately balanced to navigate political challenges – and yet it is immediately beset with delay and mismanaging, leading some city residents to wonder whether Boston is really serious.

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Credits:

Host, Producer and Writer: Saraya Wintersmith

Senior Producer: Jerome Campbell

Editorial Assistant: Mara Mellits

Editor: Paul Singer

Production oversight: Lee Hill

Mixing & Sound Design: David Goodman and Gary Mott

Theme Song and original music: Malik Williams

Artwork: Matt Welch and Mamie-Hawa Bawoh

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Managing Producer for GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins

An episode from our colleagues at Detours: The Hardest Fact I Ever Checked

Adam Monahan, producer for GBH’s Antiques Roadshow, attempts to verify what could be one of the most valuable objects to ever appear on the program: a flag from John F. Kennedy’s famed navy boat, the PT-109. With the help of a chemist, an appraiser, an author and a curator (oh, and his mom too), Adam tries to determine whether or not we have a national treasure on our hands.