Wednesday, 11 January 2012

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (2, 9, 24) with the draw of 22 January 2011 — its closest relative in 184 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 89% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (7 January 2012): nothing carried over. Chance says 54% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 94 — the 47th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 95. No two numbers side by side. 46% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

32 had not appeared for 12 draws. A number waits about 7 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 1.0× as often as an average ticket — about as popular as most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 2% of the jackpot.

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