Number 5

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

91times drawn · chance expected 87 +0.51σ

4draws waiting · a wait this long: 73% for any number

9.2average wait between appearances · chance says 10.0

50longest completed wait · 40% chance of one at least that long

5 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 91 times in 865 draws against 86.5 expected, +0.51σ. Each draw is independent: after 4 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 5, draw by draw

Drawn 91 times in 865 draws · average wait 9.2 draws · longest completed wait 50 · waiting 4 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 5 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 smallest70 · chance 64.0
2nd smallest18 · chance 24.4
3rd smallest3 · chance 2.6
4th smallest0 · chance 0.1
5th smallest0 · chance 0.0

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 7.4 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

47 13 23 31 11 12

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, 5 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 5 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-09-25	9	1st	5 9 22 34 38
2026-08-25	1	1st	5 34 39 43 45
2026-08-21	21	3rd	2 4 5 24 49
2026-06-09	10	1st	5 8 12 19

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: 5 is drawn with probability 5/50 tonight whatever it did last week.

2024-11-29	4	1st	5 16 27 32 40
2024-11-15	1	1st	5 18 21 23 31
2024-11-12	1	2nd	4 5 18 39 42
2024-11-08	23	2nd	4 5 29 35 45
2024-08-20	4	1st	5 7 13 23 40
2024-08-06	1	1st	5 31 34 40 46
2024-08-02	6	2nd	2 5 10 31 32
2024-07-12	21	1st	5 10 26 37 44
2024-04-30	1	1st	5 8 14 33 36
2024-04-26	5	1st	5 12 13 17 32
2024-04-09	24	1st	5 7 31 36 42
2024-01-16	26	1st	5 29 40 42 47
2023-10-17	11	1st	5 18 29 36 49
2023-09-08	5	1st	5 8 14 35 36
2023-08-22	10	1st	5 10 16 19 29
2023-07-18	11	1st	5 21 33 45 50
2023-06-09	2	1st	5 17 22 27 37
2023-06-02	5	3rd	1 4 5 12 25
2023-05-16	1	2nd	1 5 14 36 45
2023-05-12	7	1st	5 11 30 40 47
2023-04-18	19	2nd	3 5 8 15 25
2023-02-10	6	2nd	3 5 21 42 46
2023-01-20	6	1st	5 12 15 39 47
2022-12-30	11	1st	5 8 27 33 48
2022-11-22	2	1st	5 18 21 37 38
2022-11-15	33	1st	5 7 16 36 41
2022-07-22	11	1st	5 18 19 20 48
2022-06-14	4	1st	5 23 26 46 48
2022-05-31	9	2nd	1 5 17 24 33
2022-04-29	14	1st	5 10 25 34 50
2022-03-11	25	1st	5 11 24 37 47
2021-12-14	5	1st	5 19 30 37 43
2021-11-26	30	1st	5 7 11 19 38
2021-08-13	5	1st	5 23 41 42 50
2021-07-27	16	1st	5 12 15 28 29
2021-06-01	11	2nd	3 5 23 37 42
2021-04-23	1	1st	5 14 19 30 35
2021-04-20	1	2nd	3 5 12 32 49
2021-04-16	6	2nd	2 5 12 25 49
2021-03-26	2	1st	5 25 27 42 47
2021-03-19	9	1st	5 16 27 32 46
2021-02-16	21	1st	5 18 31 36 45
2020-12-01	50	1st	5 6 7 8 9
2020-06-09	2	1st	5 37 43 49 50
2020-06-02	5	1st	5 15 29 41 46
2020-05-15	18	1st	5 7 13 19 47
2020-03-13	14	1st	5 6 12 22 50
2020-01-24	15	1st	5 11 26 48 49
2019-12-03	3	1st	5 6 15 23 45
2019-11-22	3	1st	5 17 18 20 26
2019-11-12	1	2nd	3 5 10 11 25
2019-11-08	10	1st	5 18 27 37 45
2019-10-04	11	2nd	4 5 23 29 31
2019-08-27	4	2nd	4 5 9 10 11
2019-08-13	3	1st	5 16 17 25 38
2019-08-02	5	1st	5 31 45 46 47
2019-07-16	13	2nd	3 5 20 23 40
2019-05-31	13	1st	5 21 25 27 47
2019-04-16	2	1st	5 6 32 44 48
2019-04-09	9	1st	5 11 13 28 38
2019-03-08	9	2nd	4 5 7 11 22
2019-02-05	1	1st	5 28 31 35 50
2019-02-01	13	1st	5 13 19 39 41
2018-12-18	1	2nd	3 5 14 20 32
2018-12-14	3	2nd	4 5 9 16 20
2018-12-04	16	1st	5 13 20 33 34
2018-10-09	—	1st	5 13 22 24 40