Some customers were happy to leave it up to chance, while others were "very attached" to their numbers, he said.
"Some of them even use their unlucky numbers."
People tended to spend more ahead of big jackpots, while others upped their odds based on a "gut feeling".
The $15million winning Big Wednesday ticket sold on January 2 last year.
Prizes included Lamborghini and Audi cars, a boat, more than $600,000 cash toward a new bach and $100,000 worth of travel and spending money on a credit card.
The couple who claimed the big prize had decided to buy their ticket "last minute".
This year, a ticket bought in the region gained a Napier father $500,000 in Lotto first division. As well, a Hastings pensioner won $50,000 with an Instant Kiwi ticket. The winning tickets were bought at Napier City Pak'nSave and Pak'nSave Hastings.
Tararua topped the table as New Zealand's luckiest area per capita last year, having briefly relinquished the title in 2012 when a massive Powerball win in Te Kauwhata put Waikato in the lead.
Waitemata and Gulf ward came in second with $475.26 per capita in winnings, followed by Taupo with $333.74.
Nationally, the most lucrative winning ticket was sold at One Step Ahead in Ponsonby - winning one lucky punter $33million.
The ticket made the central Auckland shop the country's luckiest in terms of dollar winnings for the year.
"In the 2012/13 year, Lotto New Zealand transferred $201.8million to the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board to provide funding for Sport New Zealand, Creative New Zealand, Film New Zealand and more than 3000 community organisations and projects," Lotto spokeswoman Emilia Mazur said.
However, NZ Problem Gambling Foundation marketing and communications director Andree Roude said Lotto players were "buying into a dream".
About $765million was spent on Lotto and Big Wednesday in 2013, she said.
"[Lotto] is gambling. A lot of people don't put it into the same category [because] it's one of the less harmful forms of gambling compared to pokie machines."
Buying a Lotto ticket and waiting for the result was less addictive than the "instant gratification" of pokies.
However, "the harm from Lotto can come in when people are spending much more than they can afford ... where the family budget to buy food might be going on Lotto tickets because there's a huge jackpot".