Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (27, 34, 40) with the draw of 3 December 2014 — its closest relative in 1,294 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 100% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (28 April 2015): 34 carried over. Chance says 50% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 136 — the 88th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 105. No two numbers side by side. 42% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

31 had not appeared for 29 draws. A number waits about 8 on average, and a wait this long was not a signal — the machine has no memory of it.

How many people held it

A line like this is played about 0.7× as often as an average ticket — less popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 4% of the jackpot.

Illustrative model, calibrated to published studies — not live sales.