Saturday, 2 June 2012

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (1, 25, 26, 29) with the draw of 19 May 2012 — its closest relative in 780 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 41% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (1 June 2012): 29 carried over. Chance says 60% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 105 — the 87th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 83. Side-by-side numbers: 24–25, 25–26. 51% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

26 had not appeared for 14 draws. A number waits about 6 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 1.3× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 1% of the jackpot.

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