The rollout of two million "

" Oregon Lottery tickets started with a handful of California "scratchers."

Elisa Dozono, then the

chair, was visiting Los Angeles a year ago when she spotted a smattering of red-and-gold "Year of the Ram" tickets outside Staples Center. She purchased "maybe five."

The Japanese American didn't win much money, just a few dollars she "reinvested" in California by buying more tickets, but Dozono struck on an idea. Dozono, a partner at Miller Nash Graham & Dunn, snapped photos of the tickets. When she returned home, she showed the images to Lottery officials.

Why, she wondered, can't Oregon sell similar Scratch-Its?

Lotteries from California to Connecticut have created culturally specific tickets, but Oregon leaders have long shied away from advertising to ethnic minorities. Now, they're reversing course. Last year, the Lottery debuted a Latino-themed Loteria bingo. This year, they're selling Chinese New Year themed Scratch-It tickets.

Lottery officials say there's one reason for the change: Minority groups asked for them.

As a government agency, the lottery had made some strides toward diversity. Dozono was the first female and first minority chair. But senior manager Art Kiuttu thought they could do a better job reaching minority buyers.

Though Latinos make up nearly 13 percent of Oregon's population, they make up only 4 percent of lottery sales. Asian Americans account for 4 percent of the population, but only 2 percent of lottery buyers say they identify as Asian.

Lottery officials had worried some might not approve if they advertised specifically to those groups. A

noted that ethnic minorities are at greater risk of becoming problem gamblers, so lottery staff avoided making decisions that could be construed as targeting.

"We could we be criticized by people who think, 'You are preying on these poor people,'" said Jack Roberts, director of the Oregon Lottery.

Roberts said his staff began thinking differently after two meetings.

Last summer, Roberts met with Bernie Foster, the publisher of

newspaper. The weekly publication primarily covers African American life in Portland.

Foster asked why the Oregon Lottery didn't buy advertisements in his paper, Roberts said. Black people bought tickets, too.

Roberts said Foster told him, "You're willing to take our money, but you don't want to advertise for our business or advertise in the publications that cover our people and our communities. How is that fair?"

It wasn't fair, Roberts decided.

"If we want their sale, we have to ask for their sale, and we have to come to their community to do that that," Roberts said.

Around the same time, Kiuttu said, a group of Korean grocers reached out to him. They wanted the lottery to introduce a ticket that held specific appeal for their customers.

An Asian-themed ticket could help the grocers, they reasoned with Kiuttu, who oversees all non-video games. Retailers who sell lottery tickets receive a commission based on sales. Special lottery tickets often attract an influx of customers.

"That's really the magic of lottery," Kiuttu said. "It generates a lot of extra foot traffic."

When Dozono floated the idea of the Chinese New Year ticket last January, Kiuttu knew he found the answer.

The Oregon Lottery debuts about 50 new games a year. Each one takes about eight months of planning. They started with Loteria, a Bingo-styled game that has been successful with Latino populations in Florida, Maryland and other states. They also debuted new Spanish problem-gambling ads -- creating a new number, 1-844-TU-VALES, that would resonate more with Spanish-speakers than the mainstream 1-877-MY-LIMIT.

The lottery released 840,000 of the $2 Loteria tickets last year on Cinco De Mayo. The Loteria games sold so well, lottery officials decided to more than double its Chinese New Year offerings.

In December, they printed two million "Year of the Monkey" tickets. Like the tickets Dozono saw in California, Oregon's are red and gold. Because eight is a lucky number in some Asian cultures, the top prize is $888.

So far it's the second-highest selling $1 game -- behind Jackpot. That's significant, Kiuttu said, because the Lottery heavily promotes the Jackpot games on TV and online. For the Chinese New Year ticket, they bought a few ads in Asian newspapers but did little else to spread the word.

Lottery officials won't know until later this year whether the new tickets led to an increased number of Latino and Asian players. The backlash staff feared has yet to come.

Roberts said he believes now it's more wrong to ignore Oregon's diversity, to decide for minority groups what's best.

"We as society think of minority groups as people we need to help instead of asking them, 'What do you see, what do you want?'" Roberts said. "Sometimes it's as simple as, 'Why don't you treat us like you do your other customers?' Let's treat everybody with the same respect as customers we value and meet whatever their interests are."

-- Casey Parks

503-221-8271

cparks@oregonian.com;