Somewhere, someone is better off by $18m

By Peter de Graaf
It was Stephanie Lane's running joke: Tomorrow you'll wake up $18 million richer.
This time, however, the 19-year-old shop assistant's words rang true.
By closing time last night at the Kaeo Four Square no one had come forward to claim New Zealand's biggest-ever Lotto win - $17,992,975 - and no one's sure who sold the ticket.
But chances are it was Stephanie, and like the 482 other souls in the struggling Far North town she's praying the winning ticket went to a local.
Kaeo was buzzing yesterday as word got around of the big win. The entire Four Square staff turned up to help decorate the shop; cars tooted as they drove past; hopeful punters lined up to have their tickets checked; and Hitendra Patel, who co-owns the store with his brother Vipin Chand, was taking the media storm in his stride.
With a phone pressed to each ear and a TV camera whirring, he struggled to remember the last time the outside world paid such attention to Kaeo.
The shop only opened a Lotto outlet in December and had already sold a $20,000 winner.
The weekend win was especially welcome after a break-in three weeks ago, in which $8000 worth of cigarettes was stolen. The stands were found back in the river but the stock was not recovered.
"This is a good change from the atmosphere of the last weeks," Mr Patel said.
Stephanie, who sells most of the Lotto tickets, said the queue for tickets on Saturday night was unending.
"We sold easily twice as many tickets as usual - an amount like this makes people go mad," she said.
The big win was ``an awesome thing'' for a town like Kaeo.
"Some people say Kaeo's a hole, or that nothing's come out of Kaeo except Eric Rush - but now we're the hole that sold the $18 million ticket."
Stephanie said she had been thinking all night about who the winner might be: "I've seen so many faces go through my head."
Rowena Pritchard, another shop assistant, said a lot of out-of-towners went through the shop on Saturday, thanks to a Kaeo-Okaihau rugby match and a big game fishing contest at Whangaroa.
"But we're still plugging for our locals," she said.
If the prize did go to a local, the consensus around town is that it wouldn't be a secret for long. Most families in Kaeo are large and the winner would be certain to share their new-found wealth around.
There's also a sense of satisfaction that the prize was not sold in prosperous Kerikeri down the road, and may have gone to a family in need. Kaeo's median income is a mere $12,500; more than a third of residents earn between $10,000 and $20,000.
The crowd at the Kaeo Tavern yesterday was twice the usual Sunday afternoon size. Speculation about the winner was rife but no one was owning up, nor was anyone spending up big at the bar.
Nick Blechynden, a "broke ex-teacher" who was running the Kaeo-Horeke pool tournament, said Kaeo was "a brilliant little community where everyone looks after each other".
"We've got all these affluent places around us - Kerikeri, Paihia, Whangaroa - and Kaeo's stuck in the middle. It's got a proud history but it struggles like any little town in the Far North. So whoever's won, it's excellent - and if it was one of us, I'm sure they'd put it back into the community."
* THE BIG WIN
• Saturday's winning ticket is worth $17,992,975, made up of $17,702,362 from Powerball and $290,613 from Lotto first division.
• Previously the biggest individual Powerball prize was $15.2 million, won in Auckland last year.
• In 2003, Lotto jackpotted to $19.2 million, but was shared between 14 winners.
• About 2 million people bought tickets for Saturday's draw. The chance of winning the big one has been put at one in 30 million. The Lotteries Commission says the winner will almost certainly choose to keep it a secret.
* KAEO AT A GLANCE
• Kaeo is home to just 483 people. Almost 60 percent are Maori.
• The median income in Kaeo is $12,500.Unemployment is double the national average.
• The main industries are oyster processing, farming and fishing. - Figures from the 2001 Census
Picture caption details: Kaeo Four Square staff, from left are Sharon Lane, Rowena Pritchard, Stephanie Lane, Mina Patel, Vipin Chand, Hone Heta (obscured), Faye McCabe, Hitendra Patel and David Saies.