Number 3

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

14times drawn · chance expected 15 −0.38σ

20draws waiting · a wait this long: 13% for any number

10.0average wait between appearances · chance says 9.8

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

3 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 14 times in 151 draws against 15.4 expected, −0.38σ. Each draw is independent: after 20 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 3, draw by draw

Drawn 14 times in 151 draws · average wait 10.0 draws · longest completed wait 29 · waiting 20 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 3 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 smallest13 · chance 11.7
2nd smallest1 · chance 2.2
3rd smallest0 · chance 0.1
4th smallest0 · chance 0.0
5th smallest0 · chance 0.0

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.

5 15 34 6 14 45

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

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 3 is picked about 1.48× as often as an indifferent choice — 2nd 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
Numbers 1–12 — day and month overlap ×1.10
Culturally lucky numbers 3, 8, 9 ×1.10

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 3 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-10-03	8	1st	3 17 18 27 29
2026-09-25	10	2nd	1 3 5 14 15
2026-09-15	4	1st	3 14 19 31 44
2026-09-11	5	1st	3 5

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