Saturday, 9 September 2017

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (10, 12, 25, 49) with the draw of 5 July 2016 — its closest relative in 751 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 7.7% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (8 September 2017): nothing carried over. Chance says 42% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 120 — the 40th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 128. Side-by-side numbers: 24–25. 35% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

25 had not appeared for 22 draws. A number waits about 10 on average, and a wait this long was not a signal — the machine has no memory of it.

How many people held it

A line like this is played about 1.4× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 5% of the jackpot.

Illustrative model, calibrated to published studies — not live sales.