Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (17, 24, 44) with the draw of 20 April 2015 — its closest relative in 870 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 99% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (26 October 2015): 17 carried over. Chance says 45% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 124 — the 55th 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

30 had not appeared for 21 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 1.3× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 4% of the jackpot.

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