Friday, 1 February 2013

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (9, 18, 42) with the draw of 9 April 2012 — its closest relative in 442 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 92% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (30 January 2013): 9 carried over. Chance says 45% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 116 — the 44th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 120. No two numbers side by side. 37% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

42 had not appeared for 49 draws. A number waits about 9 on average, and a wait this long was not a signal — the machine has no memory of it.

How many people held it

A line like this is played about 0.9× as often as an average ticket — about as popular as most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 5% of the jackpot.

Illustrative model, calibrated to published studies — not live sales.