Editorial: Time to shine a light on our city

Rotorua residents have hit the jackpot for the third time - and Annemarie Quill is a little jealous.

A Sunday ritual when I come into work is checking whether Tauranga has had any major Lotto wins on the previous Saturday night's draw.

A big winner in Tauranga is such a great positive news story. Everyone - including us in the newsroom can entertain for a few moments whether we may just have become millionaires.

So when I came in yesterday and learned that someone in Rotorua was a big winner again, I started to feel a little bit jealous.

It is is the third week in a row that Rotorua has won big in Lotto.

Saturday night's draw saw a ticket sold at Countdown Rotorua, Fenton St, win the first division prize of $1 million.

Last week, a Rotorua player won $500,000 with Lotto First Division and two weeks ago, a Rotorua family took home a $24.3 million prize with Powerball First Division.

Great news for Rotorua, but what about us? Come on Vegas, share the luck around.

While I brooded over my missing millions, some here in the Bay may be feeling left out that Rotorua gets to play host to a Lions game when the combined team return to New Zealand in 2017.

The announcement of the tour schedule copped some flack for the lack of provincial games, but Rotorua, at least, can celebrate its inclusion as the host of the traditional battle against the Maori All Blacks.

My colleague in Rotorua tells me that when the 2005 tour opened there there was an amazing atmosphere that came when the fans rolled into town. Add this to the economic spinoffs that come hand-in-hand from supporters who knew how to have a good time on what was the trip of a lifetime for many.

Maybe we shouldn't be greedy - we have had some big announcements this month with a new planned musical festival in McLaren Falls.

Tauranga locals can flock to Rotorua to catch this big rugby game. But when it comes to attracting big games ourselves, we miss out once again.

Winning the Lotto is a game of luck that we can't control. Putting Tauranga in the international spotlight by attracting big sport games, can be controlled.

The question for our city leaders is, what can be done?