Number 18

In Lightning Lotto under the 5/49 · since May 2026 rules — 151 draws, 5 from 1–49.

14times drawn · chance expected 15 −0.38σ

2draws waiting · a wait this long: 90% for any number

10.5average wait between appearances · chance says 9.8

29longest completed wait · 48% chance of one at least that long

18 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 14 times in 151 draws against 15.4 expected, −0.38σ. Each draw is independent: after 2 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 18, draw by draw

Drawn 14 times in 151 draws · average wait 10.5 draws · longest completed wait 29 · waiting 2 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 18 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 smallest2 · chance 2.3
2nd smallest6 · chance 5.5
3rd smallest6 · chance 4.6
4th smallest0 · chance 1.5
5th smallest0 · chance 0.2

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.2 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

27 40 49 19 31 45

Never drawn alongside 13 of the other 48 numbers; chance expects about 15 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 18 is picked about 1.22× as often as an indifferent choice — 15th 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.

Numbers 1–31 — the birthday zone ×1.22

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 18 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-10-21	3	2nd	6 18 30 40 49
2026-10-18	5	1st	18 31 42 43 49
2026-10-13	1	2nd	10 18 27 28 34
2026-10-12	3	3rd	15 17

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: 18 is drawn with probability 5/49 tonight whatever it did last week.