In BC/49 under the 6/49 + 1/49 · since Nov 2024 rules — 202 draws, 6 from 1–49.
25times drawn · chance expected 25 +0.06σ
2draws waiting · a wait this long: 88% for any number
8.3average wait between appearances · chance says 8.2
24longest completed wait · 70% chance of one at least that long
42 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 25 times in 202 draws against 24.7 expected, +0.06σ. Each draw is independent: after 2 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday. It has also come out as the bonus ball 3 times, counted separately.
42
Number 42, draw by draw
Drawn 25 times in 202 draws · average wait 8.3 draws · longest completed wait 24 · waiting 2 draws now
a completed wait — darker is longer the wait still running — a lower bound, not a finished gap
Where it lands in a sorted draw
Sort a draw and 42 has a favourite seat — chance gives a large number the high positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.
Never drawn alongside 1 of the other 48 numbers; chance expects about 4 such strangers by now. Every pair →
How many people play it
Under the crowd model, 42 is picked about 0.86× as often as an indifferent choice — 33rd most popular of 49. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.
Nothing here predicts the next draw. A number’s history is a record of a fair machine’s past, and the machine keeps none of it: 42 is drawn with probability 6/49 tonight whatever it did last week.