Number 56

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

16times drawn · chance expected 11 +1.46σ

6draws waiting · a wait this long: 69% for any number

10.0average wait between appearances · chance says 14.0

24longest completed wait · 95% chance of one at least that long

56 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 16 times in 158 draws against 11.3 expected, +1.46σ. Each draw is independent: after 6 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 56, draw by draw

Drawn 16 times in 158 draws · average wait 10.0 draws · longest completed wait 24 · waiting 6 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 56 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 0.0
2nd smallest0 · chance 0.4
3rd smallest1 · chance 2.5
4th smallest8 · chance 6.8
5th smallest7 · chance 6.3

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 0.9 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

4 31 1 2 8 9

Never drawn alongside 25 of the other 69 numbers; chance expects about 27 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 56 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 56 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-09-18	19	4th	4 9 24 56 68
2026-07-14	1	5th	2 4 10 48 56
2026-07-10	15	5th	2 39 44 46 56
2026-05-19	8	4th	10 26 34

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