Northland's highest winning district was Whangarei, ranked at 31, winning $80.78 per capita. Kaipara district followed, ranked at 42, winning $73.90 per capita and the Far North District at 59, winning $53.95 per capita.
Although Northland's winnings were few and far between, ironically, the region's spending per capita was $234.34, which ranks above the national average of $211.08.
Northland's biggest Lotto win of 2017 was a First Division prize of $1m.
The lucky recipients of the prize bought their winning ticket at Countdown Tikipunga in Whangarei in the September 30 draw. The win left the couple with a sleepless night.
The woman winner, who wishes to remain anonymous, was getting ready for bed that night when she remembered to check her Lotto ticket.
"I got out my iPad, jumped on to Facebook and wrote down the winning numbers," she said.
Sitting at the kitchen table, she started checking the numbers one by one off her Lotto ticket.
"I just went tick, tick, tick and when I saw all the numbers lined up on one line, I thought 'Nah, this isn't right'.".
Doubtful that she had indeed hit the jackpot, she asked her husband to come over and check.
"I said to him, 'Does this look right to you?' and he replied, 'Yeah, it looks right to me' — he wasn't even fazed!
"When I explained that it meant we had just won $1 million, it was a totally different story. He started checking and rechecking the ticket.''
With no way of confirming their millionaire status, the couple decided their best option was to go to bed and call Lotto NZ's Head Office in the morning.
"Well, we tried to sleep. But I don't think we managed to drift off until 3am."
More than $546m in prizes was won by New Zealand Lotto players last year with Lotto, Powerball and Strike. Of these wins, 254 were First Division Prizes.
Northland received $2.1m of community funding grants from Lotto NZ in 2017.
