Jim Hasegawa

Deputy Director, Business Planning & Research, California Lottery

On the surface, working at a single organization for decades might lead to complacency. But when that organization is in an industry that encourages the free-flow of ideas both from within and from similar organizations elsewhere, and where products and customer engagement can change significantly, there’s no time for complacency. Few know that better than Jim Hasegawa, who for 36 years has helped the California Lottery understand and respond to its players, within regulatory guidelines that are unique in the American lottery industry.

“Jim Hasegawa is one of the California Lottery’s most influential leaders, making a difference every day that reaches far beyond California,” says Director Harjinder K. Shergill Chima. “His knowledge and data-driven approach have shaped major projects, sparked national conversations, and helped lotteries better understand their players. Lottery directors, like me and those before me, have long relied on his clear thinking, new ideas, and sincere willingness to help. His expertise and genuine care for people have influenced everything from research strategy to well-known games like the Big Spin. When I have an industry question, he’s one of the first people I call.”

Jim joined the California Lottery as Assistant Brand Manager for Scratchers in 1989. He moved through the ranks in products and marketing until named to his current role of Deputy Director, Business Planning & Research, in 2008. He and his team manage the development of the Lottery’s strategic and annual business plans, develop sales goals, evaluate proposed initiatives and pilot programs, and lead all research projects.

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In fact, he is probably best known for embracing research, especially research that helps the decision-making process. “Anything that provides more insights, especially from customers, is an easy candidate for a valuable research project,” he emphasizes. Fortunately, today’s lotteries have a great way to gather a lot of data that wasn’t an option just a few years ago – a player’s club. That can certainly help lotteries with limited research budgets. “You have to choose your samples wisely and understand that it’s going to be tilted towards your core players, but there are ways to mitigate that.” Lotteries do need to learn how to ask the right questions, but the information can be incredibly useful. “We get great feedback from our players when they see different Scratchers concepts. They love to see new game ideas and give us their honest reactions! This research really helps our product team decide which games to launch.”

When he’s not finding ways to make the California Lottery better, Jim loves to travel. He has visited all 50 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia. It took him a while, and he completed that personal goal in 2023 with a trip to South Dakota and the iconic Mount Rushmore. He’d like to hit all 50 states again, over a much more condensed time frame, perhaps just a year or two. Wherever he goes, he tries to have varied experiences, from enjoying natural resources and national parks to exploring urban centers and finding tasty local cuisine. A frequent vacation spot is Las Vegas.

Before he joined the California Lottery, he enjoyed playing its games as a casual player. He and two co-workers at his previous job made a point to buy tickets on the Lottery’s very first day, Oct. 3, 1985. In his travels to other states, Jim makes it a priority to pick up a few tickets if there’s a local lottery. “That way, I can put myself in the role of a player, and maybe I'll be lucky. My biggest win so far is $200!”

He’s also a big sports fan, holding season tickets for UCLA’s football and basketball teams. He’s a frequent flyer on Southwest between Sacramento and Los Angeles to attend games and visit family and friends. He was in Phoenix last month to watch the UCLA women’s basketball team bring home the NCAA national championship. He’s also part of a group that holds season tickets for the Sacramento Kings.

Jim holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in political science from UCLA, with concentrations in public opinion and quantitative research methods. He has been a speaker at various lottery industry conferences over the years.

How did you end up at the Lottery back in 1989?

I was working for a very small marketing research consulting firm, and I was looking to move on to brand management. One day I happened to see a classified ad (remember those?) in the Los Angeles Times – the California Lottery was advertising for marketing positions. I sent in an application, because I felt my knowledge of the games as a casual player would be a good fit. Long story short, I secured an interview with marketing management and ended up being hired in the Scratchers group, working on developing games. One of my early projects was helping figure out how to implement selling two different Scratchers at the same time. We had never done that before – can you imagine that? It was really a great introduction to the Lottery, because I had to work with pretty much every division, interacting with the sales team, the retailers, the prize payment team, and so forth. We needed to make sure that it would be a smooth rollout.

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What comes to mind as California Lottery innovations?

Actually, our sheer size actually makes it more difficult to be first-to-market with innovations. A smaller lottery with fewer retailers can often bring things to market much faster than we can. Looking back, a lot things over the years seemed like they were breakthroughs at the time, but from today’s perspective, especially from someone who wasn’t working in lottery 30 years ago, they may seem like no big deal. But they were big deals back then, like selling two Scratchers at the same time. Still, I don’t really consider that a big innovation – it’s more about responding to challenges. And that’s what the lottery industry does on regular basis – figuring out ways around minefields.

In the early 1990s, we launched a Keno game, and later introduced the industry’s first Bulls-eye option. Keno was ultimately declared unconstitutional by the California Supreme Court because it was a banked game (all Lottery games here must now be pari-mutuel). After that decision, we had to immediately stop selling Keno, which greatly impacted our revenues. Then we rose to the challenge with our vendor, and in less than four months we launched Hot Spot, a game with a similar play style that worked within our regulatory requirements.

A true innovation more recently was our marketing team’s endeavor to reposition the Scratchers category to address a perceptual barrier we uncovered that prevents some players from purchasing more frequently. The goal is to shift their perceptions of Scratchers from a transactional, prize-driven product to a fun, casual entertainment experience. This effort, which began in fall 2021, was more than a new advertising campaign as it expanded the mix of themes in the Scratchers product line and changed messaging at retail and all other consumer touchpoints. The results have been solid, with the campaign shifting perceptions and increasing Scratchers playership.

Does anything surprise you about the way the lottery industry has evolved?

It is perhaps a bit surprising how quickly lotteries have really become very mainstream and part of our culture. Back when the California Lottery started in 1985, many political leaders were not in favor of a lottery, and while 58% of the public voted in favor of the original ballot proposition, it was not an overwhelming statement of approval. Yet we quickly learned that a much higher percentage of California’s adults were buying tickets, and today, about seven out of 10 California adults have purchased a lottery ticket in the past year. I think part of that acceptance comes from all the hard work lotteries have done over the years. They take their responsibilities very seriously, with responsible marketing and interesting games that have helped the public become more accepting of our industry. Lotteries really deserve credit for doing that and for building public favor.

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What are the biggest challenges that lotteries in general, and the California Lottery specifically, face today?

I think the main challenges for all lotteries today come from a whole new type of competition: both the prediction markets and player proposition betting. They have some similarities to lotteries because they appeal to people's need for fun and entertainment. Sports betting is not allowed here in California, but there’s a high prevalence of player prop betting in particular, perhaps because it is very engaging. The companies involved have big money behind them, with extensive advertising including sports sponsorships, and aggressive promotions with free play offers that the lottery industry really can’t match.

A challenge for the California Lottery in particular is the state requirement that all our games must be pari-mutuel in nature. That really becomes a big barrier especially for our draw games, as we can’t offer games or features that are popular in other jurisdictions. For example, we explored offering a multi-state game like Millionaire for Life. But we can’t join that game because it has a fixed top prize.

What keeps you at the Lottery after all these years?

In the areas I’ve worked in, there’s always exciting or interesting work that needs to be done. It’s not like laundry detergent – while at the consulting firm, I did an assignment on that product, which has infrequent product innovation. In contrast, lottery products and marketing have to change and evolve, and sometimes we have to provide the public with a new spin on our existing products. There are so many ways to bring newness into the Scratchers category, everything from extended play options to new printing technologies that produce more vibrant tickets. We were fortunate to receive relief from a profit mandate a few years ago, and we were really able to modify our Scratchers product to make the games much more interesting, exciting and appealing. That type of work keeps things intellectually challenging and really tests your skills.

Yet it’s more than just product. What also keeps me at the Lottery is the people in the industry and the great exchange of ideas and free-flowing discussion between lotteries. You don’t find that in the private sector, because companies are competitors. I’ve been fortunate to attend a number of industry conferences over the years, and we all want to succeed through sharing information about what works and doesn’t work. I love this industry!

Finally, lotteries are all about supporting good causes. In California, our beneficiary is public education. That means a lot to me because my entire education was spent in California’s public schools, from elementary school through a Master’s degree. I’ve had a good career, and it’s all because of that public school education. It really feels as though I’m personally giving something back by working at the Lottery.

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What do you enjoy the most about working at the California Lottery? The least?

In addition to working for an organization that serves the public, I definitely like the innovation. As I noted earlier, there’s always something exciting happening, or a new challenge. It’s definitely not a boring job! I also enjoy the people. There are quite a number of people who have been here for a long time, especially in the areas of sales and marketing. And even after they retire, many of them remain close friends, and we still keep in touch.

As for what I like the least, I’d say the restrictions that are inevitable in the public sector. I’m not even talking about bureaucracy as much as the impacts of essentially being in a glass house. Here in California, we raise some $2 billion annually for public benefit, more than others in gaming or other restricted sectors, yet we are often criticized. Lotteries just can’t win, if you’ll pardon the pun. But we are always focused on our mission.