The Scratch-Off Ticket’s Instant Win

Decoder Ring

Slate Podcasts

Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You may never have thought very hard about scratch-off tickets, but that’s part of their power. They’re a form of gambling that’s simply a pedestrian part of American life. But not so long ago, they were risky and innovative, the killer app of their time and the must-play game of the state lottery. In this episode, Ian Coss, host of the new podcast series Scratch & Win, is going to walk us through the history of the scratch-off ticket: its invention, its popularization, and its connection to the explosion in gambling that’s now all around us. This episode of Decoder Ring was produced by Katie Shepherd. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung and Max Freedman. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Scratch & Win is a production of GBH News. It is produced by Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss and edited by Lacy Roberts. Its editorial supervisor is Jenifer McKim with support from Ryan Alderman. Mei Lei is the project manager, and the Executive Producer is Devin Maverick Robins. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at [email protected]. And you can also now call us at our Decoder Ring hotline — that number is 347-460-7281. We love hearing your ideas, and we especially enjoyed all the messages we got about our last episode on the ’90s swing craze. Keep ‘em coming! And even better, tell your friends to check us out. Want more Decoder Ring? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by the current account switch service. Running a small business
0:05.8	comes with all sorts of ups and downs. So the last thing you need are unwanted surprises, just like
0:11.6	when you switch bank accounts. That's why the current account switch service guarantees against
0:16.8	any shocks, stresses, and wait, have we been charged for 3,000 pens instead of 30 moments?
0:24.0	Find out more at currentaccountswitch.co.uk.
0:31.6	So when I say gambling to you, like what do you think of?
0:40.3	Las Vegas, casinos, dice, cards, wheels.
0:45.6	That's what I picture.
0:47.3	Ian Koss is a podcaster for WGBH in Boston, and he's working on a new series that in its way is about gambling.
0:55.2	Which you might have noticed is suddenly all around us.
0:59.0	Yeah, it's everywhere.
1:00.2	You don't have to be a superstar to spin your favorite slots on Hard Rock Bet.
1:03.7	Enter a Palace of Play all your own with Caesar's Palace Online Casino.
1:08.4	I don't really remember somebody firing the starting gun and saying, let's just, let's just do it.
1:14.9	Let's just go no holds barred on gambling and let's see what happens.
1:17.9	Bet MGM's got all the sports betting in one place.
1:21.2	The fan duel, it's easier than ever to place your bet before the next play.
1:26.4	I think we forget that it took a long time for the ball to get rolling, and now it's rolling really quickly.
1:35.1	60% of Americans gambled at least once last year.
1:38.8	We also spent $13 billion on sports betting, and more than three times that at casinos.
1:45.0	The Super Bowl was just held at Caesar's Superdome,
1:48.0	Caesar's being both the casino company and the sports book.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.