Number 38

In Lightning Lotto under the 5/49 · since May 2026 rules — 140 draws, 5 from 1–49.

14times drawn · chance expected 14 −0.08σ

32draws waiting · a wait this long: 4% for any number

8.1average wait between appearances · chance says 9.8

22longest completed wait · 76% chance of one at least that long

38 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 14 times in 140 draws against 14.3 expected, −0.08σ. Each draw is independent: after 32 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 38, draw by draw

Drawn 14 times in 140 draws · average wait 8.1 draws · longest completed wait 22 · waiting 32 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 38 has a favourite seat — chance gives a large number the high positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.

1st smallest0 · chance 0.0
2nd smallest0 · chance 0.4
3rd smallest1 · chance 2.6
4th smallest7 · chance 6.1
5th smallest6 · chance 4.8

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.2 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

16 20 24 27 37 1

Never drawn alongside 13 of the other 48 numbers; chance expects about 15 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 38 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.

Numbers above 31 ×0.86

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 38 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-09-10	5	5th	14 19 26 34 38
2026-09-05	5	5th	5 8 20 27 38
2026-08-31	11	4th	6 15 16 38 40
2026-08-20	1	4th	4 16

What this cannot tell you

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: 38 is drawn with probability 5/49 tonight whatever it did last week.