In Lightning Lotto under the 5/49 · since May 2025 rules — 505 draws, 5 from 1–49.
56times drawn · chance expected 52 +0.66σ
15draws waiting · a wait this long: 22% for any number
8.8average wait between appearances · chance says 9.8
30longest completed wait · 92% chance of one at least that long
3 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 56 times in 505 draws against 51.5 expected, +0.66σ. Each draw is independent: after 15 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.
3
Number 3, draw by draw
Drawn 56 times in 505 draws · average wait 8.8 draws · longest completed wait 30 · waiting 15 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 3 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 1 of the other 48 numbers; chance expects about 0.5 such strangers by now. Every pair →
How many people play it
Under the crowd model, 3 is picked about 1.48× as often as an indifferent choice — 2nd 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: 3 is drawn with probability 5/49 tonight whatever it did last week.