Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (1, 17, 23) with the draw of 9 November 2011 — its closest relative in 205 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 91% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (24 March 2012): nothing carried over. Chance says 54% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 87 — the 36th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 95. No two numbers side by side. 46% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

17 had not appeared for 30 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 1.6× 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.