In Lotto Max under the 7/49 + 1/49 · Sep 2009 – May 2019 rules — 503 draws, 7 from 1–49 (an earlier era).
72times drawn · chance expected 72 +0.02σ
1draws waiting · a wait this long: >99% for any number
7.1average wait between appearances · chance says 7.0
29longest completed wait · 61% chance of one at least that long
5 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 72 times in 503 draws against 71.9 expected, +0.02σ. Each draw is independent: after 1 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday. It has also come out as the bonus ball 7 times, counted separately.
5
Number 5, draw by draw
Drawn 72 times in 503 draws · average wait 7.1 draws · longest completed wait 29 · waiting 1 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.
It has shared a draw with every one of the other 48 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 49. 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 7/49 tonight whatever it did last week.