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UK Lotto · draw

Saturday, 21 December 1996

ResultUK Lotto

Single source
  1. 5
  2. 26
  3. 35
  4. 38
  5. 42
  6. 45
  7. 46

Jackpot£10,333,522

The crowdHeld about as often as an average linefrom the prize table, not from a model of how people pick

Top prizeNot wonnext draw advertised at

Rules6/49 + 1/49 · Nov 1994 – Oct 2015draw 110 of 2,065 under them

← 1996-12-14All recent draws1996-12-28 →

Where this result came from

SourcesOnly Primary (commercial feed) reported this draw, so there is nothing to check it against. Settled 29 Aug 2026, 09:38 UTC.

  • Primarycommercial feed5 26 35 38 42 45 + 4629 Aug 2026, 09:27 UTC
Drawn under earlier rules

UK Lotto was a 6/49 + 1/49 · Nov 1994 – Oct 2015 game then. Everything on this page reads the draw against those rules and the 109 draws before it — not against today’s pool.

Play these numbers? Read them as your ticket →

This draw, read by every tool

What the site’s explorations say about the numbers drawn on 21 December 1996 — each beside what chance predicted. None of it says anything about the next draw.

46oddordinary

How ordinary this draw is

Scored 46 of 100 across six shape features — more typical than about 33% of every possible ticket.

  • sum89th
  • odd48th
  • low5th
  • widest gap85th
  • neighbours25th
  • spread67th
Draw Fingerprints →

Each number, as it stood before this draw

Times drawn before — chance expected 13 of each

519times
2616times
3513times
3814times
4218times
4516times

Every number was expected about that many times after 109 draws, and they scatter around it. Warm means more than expected, cool means fewer — and a cold number arriving is exactly what cold numbers do.

Frequency Explorer →

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 6 numbers (5, 42, 45) with the draw of 24 June 1995 — its closest relative in 109 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 87% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (14 December 1996): 42 carried over. Chance says 56% of draws repeat at least one number.

Carry-over / Déjà Vu →

Sum and shape

191

The numbers add up to 191 — the 89th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 150. No two numbers side by side. 50% of draws have at least one such pair.

Sum Distribution →

The longest wait in this draw

38 had not appeared for 14 draws. A number waits about 8 on average, and a wait this long was not a signal — the machine has no memory of it.

Gap & “Overdue” Tracker →

How many people held it

A line like this is played about 0.4× as often as an average ticket — less popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 65% of the jackpot.

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

The Unpopular Numbers Edge →

Prize breakdown · 1996-12-21

  • Lines in play≈ 73Mas the winner counts imply
  • Paid out£31.8Mto 1.3M winning lines
  • Won something1 in 58lines took a prize
  • Match 61 winnerchance said 5.2

Where the money went

  • Match 632%£10.3M
  • Match 414%£4.3M
  • Match 338%£12.0M
  • 2 other tiers16%£5.2M
Tier1101001k10k100k1M10MWinners1101001k10k100k1M10M100MPrize each
  1. Match 61≈ 5.2 by chance£10,333,522
  2. Match 5 plus Bonus Ball20≈ 31 by chance£158,977
  3. Match 51,072≈ 1.3k by chance£1,853
  4. Match 465,601≈ 71k by chance£66.00
  5. Match 31,196,715≈ 1.3M by chance£10.00
  6. Match 20≈ 9.6M by chance£2.00
  • Winners, log scale
  • Prize each, log scale
  • Where chance put the count

The rings take the ≈73M lines the counts imply and assume an evenly spread crowd. Furthest from that: Match 2 — 0 winners, 100% fewer than the 9.6M an even spread gives. The numbers drawn were noticeably less popular than average — a draw full of birthdays makes more small winners, a draw of high numbers fewer. That is the crowd, not the machine.

Show the published table
MatchWinnersPrize each
Match 20£2.00
Match 31,196,715£10.00
Match 465,601£66.00
Match 51,072£1,853
Match 5 plus Bonus Ball20£158,977
Match 61£10,333,522