In Lotto under the 6/52 + 1/25 · Oct 2012 – Jan 2015 rules — 339 draws, 6 from 1–52 (an earlier era).
28times drawn · chance expected 39 −1.89σ
11draws waiting · a wait this long: 29% for any number
11.3average wait between appearances · chance says 8.7
31longest completed wait · 50% chance of one at least that long
5 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 28 times in 339 draws against 39.1 expected, −1.89σ. Each draw is independent: after 11 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.
5
Number 5, draw by draw
Drawn 28 times in 339 draws · average wait 11.3 draws · longest completed wait 31 · waiting 11 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 5 has a favourite seat — chance gives a small number the low positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.
Never drawn alongside 5 of the other 51 numbers; chance expects about 3 such strangers by now. Every pair →
How many people play it
Under the crowd model, 5 is picked about 1.34× as often as an indifferent choice — 6th most popular of 52. 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: 5 is drawn with probability 6/52 tonight whatever it did last week.