Saturday, 6 February 2016

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (17, 26, 33, 37) with the draw of 27 February 2012 — its closest relative in 1,822 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 49% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (5 February 2016): nothing carried over. Chance says 54% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 143 — the 98th 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

33 had not appeared for 7 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 0.5× as often as an average ticket — less popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 3% of the jackpot.

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