Lotteries count the later digits for the smaller prizes so that people watching the draw live have hope up until the very end. It has nothing to do with language styles.

For people who say 'any position should count' - why? Neither way makes more 'sense' than the other, but they do have very different prize spreads and chances. The Jumbo Cacpot way gives simple odds:

1st prize: 1 in 10,000
2nd prize: 1 in 1,000
3rd prize: 1 in 100
4th prize: 1 in 10

(Ok I know I haven't tweaked the figures to take account of people not winning multiple prizes, but it makes minimal difference.)

The Jumbo Cacpot is perfectly fine as it is.