The Virginia Lottery says it gave $606 million to schools 2018 - a towering figure that apparently gives the agency enough clout to make Richmond’s skyline look like the back wall of a liquor store. But like many state-run lotteries across the country, casinos and sports betting are making the agency take a closer look at the odds of their continued dominance.

Last week on Slack, we chatted with Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, one of the reporters whose work led to the release of over 11 million records related to lottery winners. Here’s what he had to share on managing national projects, and making the leap to to global reporting.

The Massachusetts lottery last year distributed nearly $975 million in revenue to communities. Contributing to that sum, Keno remains a consistent draw in some communities, though the returns may not reflect the effort put in.