Number 4

In PowerBall under the 5/50 + 1/20 · since Jun 2018 rules — 865 draws, 5 from 1–50.

88times drawn · chance expected 87 +0.17σ

6draws waiting · a wait this long: 59% for any number

9.8average wait between appearances · chance says 10.0

55longest completed wait · 26% chance of one at least that long

4 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 88 times in 865 draws against 86.5 expected, +0.17σ. Each draw is independent: after 6 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 4, draw by draw

Drawn 88 times in 865 draws · average wait 9.8 draws · longest completed wait 55 · waiting 6 draws now

a completed wait — darker is longer the wait still running — a lower bound, not a finished gap

Where it lands in a sorted draw

Sort a draw and 4 has a favourite seat — chance gives a small number the low positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.

1st smallest72 · chance 67.8
2nd smallest15 · chance 18.9
3rd smallest1 · chance 1.3
4th smallest0 · chance 0.0
5th smallest0 · chance 0.0

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 7.2 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

38 17 19 24 27 5

It has shared a draw with every one of the other 49 numbers; chance expected about 0.0 still unmet by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 4 is picked about 1.34× as often as an indifferent choice — 6th most popular of 50. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.

Numbers 1–31 — the birthday zone ×1.22
Numbers 1–12 — day and month overlap ×1.10

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 4 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-09-18	3	2nd	2 4 6 8 43
2026-09-08	1	1st	4 8 13 37 49
2026-09-04	4	1st	4 7 27 38 50
2026-08-21	8	2nd	2 4 5 24

What this cannot tell you

Nothing here predicts the next draw. A number’s history is a record of a fair machine’s past, and the machine keeps none of it: 4 is drawn with probability 5/50 tonight whatever it did last week.

2023-11-28	3	1st	4 17 25 26 46
2023-11-17	21	1st	4 20 24 30 42
2023-09-05	3	1st	4 12 18 24 50
2023-08-25	24	2nd	3 4 7 13 24
2023-06-02	2	2nd	1 4 5 12 25
2023-05-26	5	1st	4 9 21 22 41
2023-05-09	8	2nd	2 4 16 17 34
2023-04-11	15	1st	4 30 38 43 49
2023-02-17	3	3rd	1 2 4 19 24
2023-02-07	14	2nd	3 4 23 32 49
2022-12-20	6	1st	4 9 19 24 29
2022-11-29	18	1st	4 6 8 33 38
2022-09-27	18	1st	4 32 39 40 46
2022-07-26	5	1st	4 6 9 41 50
2022-07-08	4	1st	4 9 19 21 37
2022-06-24	2	1st	4 13 25 38 44
2022-06-17	3	1st	4 22 32 46 48
2022-06-07	9	1st	4 7 35 41 46
2022-05-06	6	1st	4 14 30 34 38
2022-04-15	13	1st	4 10 12 35 39
2022-03-01	6	1st	4 15 26 38 39
2022-02-08	18	2nd	1 4 14 39 49
2021-12-07	5	1st	4 7 17 19 23
2021-11-19	12	1st	4 16 39 40 50
2021-10-08	17	1st	4 14 18 24 38
2021-08-10	3	2nd	1 4 12 13 33
2021-07-30	10	1st	4 12 27 35 50
2021-06-25	9	1st	4 16 34 36 46
2021-05-25	2	2nd	3 4 8 25 44
2021-05-18	2	1st	4 11 30 35 45
2021-05-11	1	1st	4 10 17 29 38
2021-05-07	10	1st	4 7 19 20 49
2021-04-02	15	1st	4 8 15 25 26
2021-02-09	4	1st	4 7 15 30 32
2021-01-26	6	1st	4 8 12 15 19
2021-01-05	18	1st	4 17 42 46 48
2020-10-30	14	1st	4 27 36 46 49
2020-09-11	11	2nd	1 4 10 12 49
2020-08-04	3	1st	4 28 34 38 47
2020-07-24	11	1st	4 6 11 27 34
2020-06-16	5	1st	4 26 27 29 41
2020-05-29	15	1st	4 27 30 34 45
2020-04-07	4	1st	4 13 32 34 42
2020-03-24	1	1st	4 12 41 45 46
2020-03-20	7	1st	4 9 16 21 36
2020-02-25	1	1st	4 10 17 26 31
2020-02-21	4	1st	4 18 30 34 36
2020-02-07	9	2nd	2 4 29 38 47
2020-01-07	3	1st	4 8 18 35 49
2019-12-27	11	1st	4 13 34 36 38
2019-11-19	4	2nd	3 4 16 43 44
2019-11-05	8	1st	4 7 18 27 37
2019-10-08	1	1st	4 15 36 37 50
2019-10-04	11	1st	4 5 23 29 31
2019-08-27	9	1st	4 5 9 10 11
2019-07-26	1	1st	4 17 19 43 48
2019-07-23	13	1st	4 6 35 45 48
2019-06-07	26	1st	4 11 21 22 45
2019-03-08	24	1st	4 5 7 11 22
2018-12-14	9	1st	4 5 9 16 20
2018-11-13	6	1st	4 6 19 24 41
2018-10-23	16	1st	4 17 21 28 48
2018-08-28	9	1st	4 13 21 41 44
2018-07-27	—	1st	4 15 19 33 36