Number 42

In Western 49 under the 6/49 · since May 2025 rules — 145 draws, 6 from 1–49.

12times drawn · chance expected 18 −1.46σ

1draws waiting · a wait this long: >99% for any number

11.5average wait between appearances · chance says 8.2

30longest completed wait · 22% chance of one at least that long

42 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 12 times in 145 draws against 17.8 expected, −1.46σ. Each draw is independent: after 1 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 42, draw by draw

Drawn 12 times in 145 draws · average wait 11.5 draws · longest completed wait 30 · waiting 1 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.

1st smallest0 · chance 0.0
2nd smallest0 · chance 0.0
3rd smallest0 · chance 0.2
4th smallest0 · chance 1.6
5th smallest9 · chance 5.0
6th smallest3 · chance 5.3

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.3 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

16 44 4 28 33 2

Never drawn alongside 12 of the other 48 numbers; chance expects about 14 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.

Numbers above 31 ×0.86

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 42 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-10-07	4	5th	12 28 30 38 42 49
2026-09-23	12	5th	2 4 23 31 42 44
2026-08-12	10	5th	11 16 20 36 42 46
2026-07-08	16	6th

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: 42 is drawn with probability 6/49 tonight whatever it did last week.