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UK Lotto · draw

Saturday, 17 May 1997

ResultUK Lotto

Single source
  1. 2
  2. 9
  3. 13
  4. 18
  5. 27
  6. 48
  7. 24

Jackpot£6,622,040

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 146 of 2,065 under them

← 1997-05-14All recent draws1997-05-21 →

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 feed2 9 13 18 27 48 + 2429 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 145 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 17 May 1997 — each beside what chance predicted. None of it says anything about the next draw.

44oddordinary

How ordinary this draw is

Scored 44 of 100 across six shape features — more typical than about 30% of every possible ticket.

  • sum16th
  • odd48th
  • low77th
  • widest gap85th
  • neighbours25th
  • spread95th
Draw Fingerprints →

Each number, as it stood before this draw

Times drawn before — chance expected 18 of each

217times
917times
1315times
1815times
2717times
4822times

Every number was expected about that many times after 145 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 (9, 13, 27) with the draw of 8 February 1997 — its closest relative in 145 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 93% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (14 May 1997): 2 carried over. Chance says 56% of draws repeat at least one number.

Carry-over / Déjà Vu →

Sum and shape

117

The numbers add up to 117 — the 16th 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

18 had not appeared for 33 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 1.1× as often as an average ticket — about as popular as most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 37% of the jackpot.

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

The Unpopular Numbers Edge →

Prize breakdown · 1997-05-17

  • Lines in play≈ 84Mas the winner counts imply
  • Paid out£26.5Mto 1.5M winning lines
  • Won something1 in 57lines took a prize
  • Match 65 winnerschance said 6.0

Where the money went

  • Match 625%£6.6M
  • Match 411%£2.8M
  • Match 352%£13.8M
  • 2 other tiers13%£3.3M
Tier1101001k10k100k1M10MWinners1101001k10k100k1M10MPrize each
  1. Match 65≈ 6.0 by chance£1,324,408
  2. Match 5 plus Bonus Ball48≈ 36 by chance£42,449
  3. Match 52,102≈ 1.5k by chance£605
  4. Match 492,901≈ 81k by chance£30.00
  5. Match 31,375,052≈ 1.5M by chance£10.00
  6. Match 20≈ 11M by chance£2.00
  • Winners, log scale
  • Prize each, log scale
  • Where chance put the count

The rings take the ≈84M lines the counts imply and assume an evenly spread crowd. Furthest from that: Match 2 — 0 winners, 100% fewer than the 11M 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 31,375,052£10.00
Match 492,901£30.00
Match 52,102£605
Match 5 plus Bonus Ball48£42,449
Match 65£1,324,408