Hello and welcome to this day, a history podcast from Radiotopia. My name is Jody Avergan.

Let's go to the spring of 1964 when the state of New Hampshire finally passes a bill to reinstate the lottery.

New Hampshire governor, John W. King King was the first one to buy a

ticket from the new lottery system. It was three bucks. And guess what? Governor John King ended up

winning $7.8 million in retiring from office to go hang out on his yacht in the Caribbean. Okay,

that part didn't happen. King did not win. but the lottery was here to stay, and now,

of course, all but three states have a lottery system. It is largely used to fund education

departments and other government services, and it's a real cultural and economic force,

especially now in 2025, where it's not just lotto and scratchoffs, but we have the

meteoric rise of sports

gambling and casinos and lots more. So let's go back to the humble roots of the Scratch

and Win Industrial Complex. Back with us on the show is the great Ian Koss, the host and

producer of a new series called Scratch and Win, which is from GBAH News. Ian has done a lot of work

with our friends at PRX and GBAH in Boston. His last series was that remarkable series on The Big

Dig, which he was on to talk about when that came out. But here he's back. Ian, congrats on

the new series. Thanks for joining us. Thanks so much. Glad to be here. You start your series

inside a bodega. I guess they don't call them bodegas in Boston, but you start your series inside

a bodega where someone's buying scratch off. We call it a packie. Yeah, there you go. But here,

as always, Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley. Hey there. Hello, Jody. Hey there. So, yeah, I want you to get us into the sort of world of the, what did you say, the packie?

The packy. The convenience store.

I don't think I knew that.

Not a bodega, though.

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