Number 42

In Lightning Lotto under the 5/49 · since May 2025 rules — 515 draws, 5 from 1–49.

41times drawn · chance expected 53 −1.68σ

64draws waiting · a wait this long: 0.1% for any number

10.8average wait between appearances · chance says 9.8

32longest completed wait · 77% chance of one at least that long

42 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 41 times in 515 draws against 52.6 expected, −1.68σ. Each draw is independent: after 64 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 42, draw by draw

Drawn 41 times in 515 draws · average wait 10.8 draws · longest completed wait 32 · waiting 64 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 42 has a favourite seat — chance gives a large number the high positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.

1st smallest0 · chance 0.0
2nd smallest0 · chance 0.3
3rd smallest0 · chance 3.6
4th smallest12 · chance 15.7
5th smallest29 · chance 21.3

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 3.4 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

7 1 39 12 18 22

Never drawn alongside 2 of the other 48 numbers; chance expects about 2 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 42 is picked about 0.86× as often as an indifferent choice — 33rd 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 above 31 ×0.86

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 42 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
2026-08-19	6	5th	3 7 22 24 42
2026-08-13	3	5th	7 18 30 32 42
2026-08-10	3	4th	9 37 39 42 45
2026-08-07	14	4th	24 28 37 42 43
2026-07-23	10	5th	5 14 15 32 42
2026-07-13	8	5th	6 9 17 20 42
2026-07-05	5	5th	2 10 16 28 42
2026-06-30	13	5th	12 18 22 27 42
2026-06-17	32	5th	10 16 19 29 42
2026-05-16	5	4th	11 21 35 42 45
2026-05-11	2	5th	18 21 29 41 42
2026-05-09	26	5th	3 5 19 27 42
2026-04-13	8	5th	12 22 30 36 42
2026-04-05	31	5th	10 15 21 39 42
2026-03-05	26	5th	12 16 21 32 42
2026-02-07	10	4th	12 13 36 42 45
2026-01-28	10	5th	1 4 11 34 42
2026-01-18	20	4th	27 34 39 42 47
2025-12-29	11	5th	7 14 18 22 42
2025-12-18	9	5th	13 30 33 41 42
2025-12-09	6	5th	6 8 20 28 42
2025-12-03	17	4th	17 31 36 42 46
2025-11-16	18	5th	14 22 27 36 42
2025-10-29	6	5th	1 29 35 37 42

The other 17 appearances

2025-10-23	14	5th	7 20 26 27 42
2025-10-09	5	5th	1 7 39 41 42
2025-10-04	3	4th	7 9 39 42 43
2025-10-01	2	5th	6 18 24 34 42
2025-09-29	3	5th	2 7 20 25 42
2025-09-26	12	4th	6 23 28 42 43
2025-09-14	11	4th	15 25 35 42 44
2025-09-03	7	5th	16 25 33 40 42
2025-08-27	9	5th	7 10 31 32 42
2025-08-18	7	5th	6 10 19 35 42
2025-08-11	17	5th	1 12 35 39 42
2025-07-25	1	4th	12 18 33 42 47
2025-07-24	11	4th	8 19 28 42 48
2025-07-13	10	4th	1 23 39 42 48
2025-07-03	1	5th	9 24 37 41 42
2025-07-02	19	5th	1 21 22 26 42
2025-06-13	—	5th	1 14 26 34 42

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

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Reading the draws and working out what chance predicts.

Lightning Lotto · every number