In Lightning Lotto under the 5/49 + 1/49 · Sep 2024 – May 2026 rules — 589 draws, 5 from 1–49 (an earlier era).
66times drawn · chance expected 60 +0.80σ
48draws waiting · a wait this long: 0.6% for any number
8.3average wait between appearances · chance says 9.8
46longest completed wait · 40% chance of one at least that long
18 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 66 times in 589 draws against 60.1 expected, +0.80σ. Each draw is independent: after 48 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday. It has also come out as the bonus ball 13 times, counted separately.
18
Number 18, draw by draw
Drawn 66 times in 589 draws · average wait 8.3 draws · longest completed wait 46 · waiting 48 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.
It has shared a draw with every one of the other 48 numbers; chance expected about 0.2 still unmet 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.
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.