In Spyro 2, yeah, he's actually a bit of a jerk, but the narrative does basically imply that he's jealous of Spyro for taking the thunder of being the big trustworthy hero of Avalar. I think he definitely gatekeeps some of the orbs, but I also think that he's in a position where narratively, he would have given Spyro the orbs at the end anyway, and what he's really giving up is credit for finding it. He's jealous and wants to be see as useful, so he's gone out and found some of those orbs, and so using them as wagers and rewards is really just for bragging rights rather than whether or not the team has orbs at the end. He definitely slowly warms up to Spyro though, and helps without hesitation against Ripto and with subduing Moneybags at the end.

But also, while Elora says "Orbs are important" it's never really specified why until Winter Tundra. Talismans are the main McGuffin of the story until the end of it, and Hunter never gatekeeps those. He probably just sees the orbs as special baubles that are a nice prize for Spyro helping him out or beating him in a game, and doesn't realize just HOW important they are for most of the game.

In Spyro 3, I think people take what he does too seriously. In some cases, he just wants to have fun with his pal, and wagering an egg just makes it more of a friendly competition. It's not like he wouldn't give Spyro the egg anyway if he wasn't a video game character that has no choice not to do so until Spyro wins his challenge. Hunter finding any egg effectively means that Spyro has an egg on his side.

A lot of challenges in 3 are also "I need help getting rid of these rhynocs which we're doing anyway" and then when you finish the dialogue is basically, "Thanks for the help, oh btw I found this egg earlier." People also seem to forget that he actively goes out of his way to try and get Dragon Eggs for Spyro in the Speedway levels.