Number 48

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

14times drawn · chance expected 11 +0.84σ

13draws waiting · a wait this long: 41% for any number

10.4average wait between appearances · chance says 14.0

29longest completed wait · 83% chance of one at least that long

48 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 14 times in 158 draws against 11.3 expected, +0.84σ. Each draw is independent: after 13 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 48, draw by draw

Drawn 14 times in 158 draws · average wait 10.4 draws · longest completed wait 29 · waiting 13 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 48 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 smallest1 · chance 0.1
2nd smallest1 · chance 1.2
3rd smallest1 · chance 4.0
4th smallest10 · chance 5.8
5th smallest1 · chance 2.9

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 0.8 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

34 10 60 6 7 9

Never drawn alongside 29 of the other 69 numbers; chance expects about 31 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 48 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 48 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-08-25	1	4th	7 10 47 48 50
2026-08-21	7	4th	1 25 34 48 57
2026-07-28	3	2nd	34 48 49 59 70
2026-07-17	1	4th	22 34 45

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