The Scratch-Off Ticket’s Instant Win
Decoder Ring12 Feb 2025

The Scratch-Off Ticket’s Instant Win

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 DecoderRing@slate.com. 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.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(154)

Preview: Decoder Rings Back | Duck, Duck, Jeep

Preview: Decoder Rings Back | Duck, Duck, Jeep

Earlier this year we debuted Decoder Rings Back, our new feature exclusively for Decoder Ring Plus subscribers. In each installment, Willa gets a listener on the phone and tries her best to answer the...

27 Maj 10min

No Pulp: The Killing of the Florida Orange

No Pulp: The Killing of the Florida Orange

Like the palm tree, the Everglades, Disney World, and the “Florida Man,” the orange is a classic symbol of the Sunshine State. But maybe not for much longer. Production has declined to catastrophic le...

20 Maj 41min

Mailbag: Spooky Strings, Phone Menu Options, and Eye Rolls

Mailbag: Spooky Strings, Phone Menu Options, and Eye Rolls

We are lucky to get fantastic questions from our listeners here at Decoder Ring, and in this episode, we’re going to open up our mailbag to answer three of them. What are the origins of an eerie horro...

6 Maj 48min

How to Make Dollars Make Sense

How to Make Dollars Make Sense

Money is everywhere. Money influences just about everything. We think about money all the time. But how much do we really know about it? In this episode of Decoder Ring, we explore the obscure histori...

22 Apr 34min

One Year: 1995 | Hitting the Spot

One Year: 1995 | Hitting the Spot

Last week we aired an episode about lonelygirl15, one of the first proper YouTube stars, and perhaps the most famous example of playing around with the boundaries of fiction and truth on the internet....

17 Apr 57min

Who Was Lonelygirl15?

Who Was Lonelygirl15?

In the summer of 2006, a teenage girl began posting video diaries to a then-new site called YouTube under the handle lonelygirl15. Within weeks she was a phenomenon—even though no one knew the truth o...

8 Apr 58min

The Johnlock Conspiracy (Encore)

The Johnlock Conspiracy (Encore)

For over a century, fans of Sherlock Holmes have been analyzing, debating, and creating new texts with Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters. But when a fan theory emerged about the BBC TV show Sherlock tha...

25 Mars 53min

Was "Eyes Wide Shut" a Warning?

Was "Eyes Wide Shut" a Warning?

When Eyes Wide Shut opened in the summer of 1999, it was widely considered a disappointment. This final film from legendary director Stanley Kubrick had been sold as an erotic thriller, and potentiall...

11 Mars 46min

Populärt inom Samhälle & Kultur

podme-dokumentar
svenska-fall
gynning-berg
en-mork-historia
aftonbladet-krim
p3-dokumentar
creepypodden-med-jack-werner
skaringer-nessvold
hor-har
killradet
aftonbladet-daily
kod-katastrof
flashback-forever
vad-blir-det-for-mord
rss-mer-an-bara-morsa
mardromsgasten
rss-brottsutredarna
p3-historia
p1-dokumentar
sanna-berattelser