Million-dollar mystery grips Masterton as villagers speculate

Somebody in Masterton won $1 million on Lotto a month ago and has refused to be photographed with the cheque, leaving the town with nothing to do but work out who it was.

The outlet on Queen Street that sold the ticket has a sign in the window and nothing else. Staff have been told to say nothing, which has not stopped anyone asking. "Every second person comes in for a Powerball and a bit of a stare," said Denise Ahipene, 44, who works the counter. "I don't know who it is. I actually don't. And if I did I'd — well, no, I wouldn't, but I don't, so. Anyway that's four dollars."

Suspicion has since spread across the district. A man in Lansdowne who put up a fence has been asked about it at the bowling club, at the dump and, once, through the fence. A woman who bought a heat pump was reportedly "looked at" in New World. A farmer out Carterton way denied it so hard at the A&P show that several people now think it was him.

"Bought a ute, mate. Second-hand. On finance," said Graeme Sowerby, 61, who did not win Lotto. "My brother-in-law's told half of Solway it's paid off in cash, so now the bank rings me asking if I want to pay it off in cash. I do not. It's a piss-take. I want people to stop — like, the pointing, at the servo, that can stop."

Lotto NZ said winners had "every right to remain anonymous" and that the decision not to publicise a win was "entirely the winner's". The owner of the shop told The Daily Yarn he would "obviously" say if it had been him, which four regulars described, unprompted, as "exactly what you'd say".

Ticket sales at the shop are up 30 percent for the month. Nobody is buying them to win.