In Powerball under the 5/45 + 1/45 · Jan 2009 – Mar 2013 rules — 218 draws, 5 from 1–45 (an earlier era).
27times drawn · chance expected 24 +0.60σ
7draws waiting · a wait this long: 49% for any number
7.0average wait between appearances · chance says 9.0
17longest completed wait · 99% chance of one at least that long
7 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 27 times in 218 draws against 24.2 expected, +0.60σ. Each draw is independent: after 7 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.
7
Number 7, draw by draw
Drawn 27 times in 218 draws · average wait 7.0 draws · longest completed wait 17 · waiting 7 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 7 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 2 of the other 44 numbers; chance expects about 4 such strangers by now. Every pair →
How many people play it
Under the crowd model, 7 is picked about 1.54× as often as an indifferent choice — 1st 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: 7 is drawn with probability 5/45 tonight whatever it did last week.