In Lotto under the 6/40 + 1/0 · Sep 2022 – Oct 2024 rules — 216 draws, 6 from 1–40 (an earlier era).
41times drawn · chance expected 32 +1.64σ
3draws waiting · a wait this long: 72% for any number
5.3average wait between appearances · chance says 6.7
18longest completed wait · 93% chance of one at least that long
3 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 41 times in 216 draws against 32.4 expected, +1.64σ. Each draw is independent: after 3 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.
3
Number 3, draw by draw
Drawn 41 times in 216 draws · average wait 5.3 draws · longest completed wait 18 · waiting 3 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.
It has shared a draw with every one of the other 39 numbers; chance expected about 0.2 still unmet 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 40. 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: 3 is drawn with probability 6/40 tonight whatever it did last week.