Sunday, 8 March 2015

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (5, 24, 26, 38) with the draw of 8 December 2014 — its closest relative in 326 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 7.6% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (7 March 2015): nothing carried over. Chance says 50% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 121 — the 73th 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

24 had not appeared for 22 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 0.9× as often as an average ticket — about as popular as most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 3% of the jackpot.

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