Saturday, 10 December 2016

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 6 numbers (3, 21, 31, 46) with the draw of 20 February 2010 — its closest relative in 724 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 54% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (7 December 2016): 21 carried over. Chance says 57% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 144 — the 46th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 147. No two numbers side by side. 50% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

16 had not appeared for 11 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 1.3× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 29% of the jackpot.

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