Saturday, 4 February 2017

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (7, 19, 26) with the draw of 23 November 2016 — its closest relative in 263 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 90% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (3 February 2017): nothing carried over. Chance says 50% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 68 — the 7th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 105. No two numbers side by side. 42% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

26 had not appeared for 24 draws. A number waits about 8 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 2.3× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 1% of the jackpot.

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