Number 26

In Mega Millions under the 5/50 + 1/25 · Sep 1996 – Jan 1999 rules — 172 draws, 5 from 1–50 (an earlier era).

15times drawn · chance expected 17 −0.56σ

1draws waiting · a wait this long: >99% for any number

11.7average wait between appearances · chance says 10.0

32longest completed wait · 42% chance of one at least that long

26 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 15 times in 172 draws against 17.2 expected, −0.56σ. Each draw is independent: after 1 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 26, draw by draw

Drawn 15 times in 172 draws · average wait 11.7 draws · longest completed wait 32 · waiting 1 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 26 has a favourite seat — chance gives a large number the high positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.

1st smallest1 · chance 0.8
2nd smallest2 · chance 3.6
3rd smallest3 · chance 5.9
4th smallest7 · chance 3.9
5th smallest2 · chance 0.9

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.2 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

24 32 6 7 25 2

Never drawn alongside 12 of the other 49 numbers; chance expects about 14 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 26 is picked about 1.22× as often as an indifferent choice — 15th most popular of 50. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.

Numbers 1–31 — the birthday zone ×1.22

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 26 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
1999-01-08	16	4th	5 21 23 26 37
1998-11-13	12	4th	5 7 18 26 45
1998-10-02	5	4th	2 6 8 26 39
1998-09-15	2	2nd	11 26

What this cannot tell you

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: 26 is drawn with probability 5/50 tonight whatever it did last week.