In Lightning Lotto under the 5/49 · since May 2026 rules — 140 draws, 5 from 1–49.
23times drawn · chance expected 14 +2.43σ
11draws waiting · a wait this long: 34% for any number
5.5average wait between appearances · chance says 9.8
25longest completed wait · 82% chance of one at least that long
16 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 23 times in 140 draws against 14.3 expected, +2.43σ. Each draw is independent: after 11 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.
16
Number 16, draw by draw
Drawn 23 times in 140 draws · average wait 5.5 draws · longest completed wait 25 · waiting 11 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 16 has a favourite seat — chance gives a small number the low positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.
Never drawn alongside 7 of the other 48 numbers; chance expects about 7 such strangers by now. Every pair →
How many people play it
Under the crowd model, 16 is picked about 1.22× as often as an indifferent choice — 15th 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: 16 is drawn with probability 5/49 tonight whatever it did last week.