In Powerball under the 5/45 + 1/45 · Jan 2009 – Mar 2013 rules — 218 draws, 5 from 1–45 (an earlier era).
31times drawn · chance expected 24 +1.46σ
0draws waiting — it came up last time
6.6average wait between appearances · chance says 9.0
24longest completed wait · 87% chance of one at least that long
5 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 31 times in 218 draws against 24.2 expected, +1.46σ. Each draw is independent: after 0 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.
5
Number 5, draw by draw
Drawn 31 times in 218 draws · average wait 6.6 draws · longest completed wait 24 · drawn in the most recent draw
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.
Never drawn alongside 3 of the other 44 numbers; chance expects about 3 such strangers 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 45. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.
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 5/45 tonight whatever it did last week.