Thursday, 26 February 2015

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (9, 13, 17, 20) with the draw of 11 December 2014 — its closest relative in 764 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 30% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (24 February 2015): nothing carried over. Chance says 56% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 77 — the 27th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 90. Side-by-side numbers: 17–18. 48% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

20 had not appeared for 19 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 1.3× 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.