Wednesday, 7 October 2015

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (1, 14, 16, 23) with the draw of 1 December 2014 — its closest relative in 1,375 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 43% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (6 October 2015): 14 carried over. Chance says 55% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 85 — the 36th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 93. No two numbers side by side. 47% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

31 had not appeared for 12 draws. A number waits about 7 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 1.5× 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.