Number 18

In Mega Millions under the 5/70 + 1/24 · since Apr 2025 rules — 158 draws, 5 from 1–70.

17times drawn · chance expected 11 +1.77σ

20draws waiting · a wait this long: 24% for any number

7.8average wait between appearances · chance says 14.0

32longest completed wait · 82% chance of one at least that long

18 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 17 times in 158 draws against 11.3 expected, +1.77σ. Each draw is independent: after 20 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 18, draw by draw

Drawn 17 times in 158 draws · average wait 7.8 draws · longest completed wait 32 · waiting 20 draws now

a completed wait — darker is longer the wait still running — a lower bound, not a finished gap

Where it lands in a sorted draw

Sort a draw and 18 has a favourite seat — chance gives a small number the low positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.

1st smallest7 · chance 5.3
2nd smallest8 · chance 7.4
3rd smallest2 · chance 3.5
4th smallest0 · chance 0.7
5th smallest0 · chance 0.0

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.0 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

11 42 43 50 3 4

Never drawn alongside 24 of the other 69 numbers; chance expects about 26 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 18 is picked about 1.22× as often as an indifferent choice — 15th most popular of 70. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.

Numbers 1–31 — the birthday zone ×1.22

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 18 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-07-31	32	2nd	4 18 26 43 51
2026-04-10	3	2nd	3 18 36 42 49
2026-03-31	4	1st	18 35 45 60 65
2026-03-17	5	3rd	4 11 18

What this cannot tell you

Nothing here predicts the next draw. A number’s history is a record of a fair machine’s past, and the machine keeps none of it: 18 is drawn with probability 5/70 tonight whatever it did last week.