Number 22

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

12times drawn · chance expected 11 +0.22σ

11draws waiting · a wait this long: 48% for any number

12.3average wait between appearances · chance says 14.0

27longest completed wait · 82% chance of one at least that long

22 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 12 times in 158 draws against 11.3 expected, +0.22σ. Each draw is independent: after 11 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 22, draw by draw

Drawn 12 times in 158 draws · average wait 12.3 draws · longest completed wait 27 · waiting 11 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 22 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 smallest2 · chance 2.7
2nd smallest7 · chance 5.0
3rd smallest3 · chance 3.3
4th smallest0 · chance 0.9
5th smallest0 · chance 0.1

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 0.7 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

42 2 5 12 33 34

Never drawn alongside 35 of the other 69 numbers; chance expects about 34 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 22 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 22 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-09-01	13	2nd	1 22 51 61 63
2026-07-17	16	1st	22 34 45 48 55
2026-05-22	5	2nd	3 22 34 54 61
2026-05-05	8	2nd	12 22 50

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: 22 is drawn with probability 5/70 tonight whatever it did last week.