Scratch & Win explores the changing politics of gambling during the 1970s and '80s, and we can hear that evolution play out in this special collection of material from GBH Archives.
We can hear a 1973 roundtable debate over how the state could better compete with illegal bookies and numbers rackets. We can hear reporters talking to lottery players and store clerks at the peak of “Megamania,” when the state experienced its first multi-million dollar jackpots. And of course, we can hear the crooning voice of state treasurer Bob Crane, who built the lottery from an idea on the page to a gambling juggernaut known throughout the world.
Want to know what made the Massachusetts lottery different from other state lotteries? Watch Crane serenade a crowd at a nursing home, captured on film by WGBH in 1978.
This special collection features curated archival clips used in the podcast series Scratch & Win, as well as additional media from GBH programs like The Group, Say Brother, Ten O’Clock News, and more. To learn more about the podcast and find out how to listen, go to the Scratch & Win podcast page on gbhnews.org/scratchandwin.
Collection background
The materials in this collection were identified by researchers Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss during the production of Scratch & Win. Scratch & Win is made by the Peabody Award-winning team behind The Big Dig produced by GBH News and distributed by PRX.
Featured media
Additional media
Additional resources
Credits
The media in this collection was digitized with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (2018–2023), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (2011–2012), and the Council on Library and Information Resources (2010). This collection was added to Open Vault in January, 2025.
