Number 42

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

18times drawn · chance expected 11 +2.07σ

1draws waiting · a wait this long: >99% for any number

8.5average wait between appearances · chance says 14.0

30longest completed wait · 88% chance of one at least that long

42 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 18 times in 158 draws against 11.3 expected, +2.07σ. Each draw is independent: after 1 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 42, draw by draw

Drawn 18 times in 158 draws · average wait 8.5 draws · longest completed wait 30 · waiting 1 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 42 has a favourite seat — chance gives a large number the high positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.

1st smallest0 · chance 0.4
2nd smallest1 · chance 2.8
3rd smallest6 · chance 6.5
4th smallest9 · chance 6.2
5th smallest2 · chance 2.1

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.

2 22 17 18 41 8

Never drawn alongside 25 of the other 69 numbers; chance expects about 24 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 42 is picked about 0.86× as often as an indifferent choice — 36th 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 above 31 ×0.86

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 42 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-10-06	11	3rd	26 32 42 51 54
2026-08-28	10	4th	8 17 29 42 55
2026-07-24	30	3rd	2 5 42 44 60
2026-04-10	10	4th	3 18 36

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