Number 27

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

13times drawn · chance expected 17 −1.07σ

23draws waiting · a wait this long: 10% for any number

11.3average wait between appearances · chance says 10.0

27longest completed wait · 55% chance of one at least that long

27 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 13 times in 172 draws against 17.2 expected, −1.07σ. Each draw is independent: after 23 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 27, draw by draw

Drawn 13 times in 172 draws · average wait 11.3 draws · longest completed wait 27 · waiting 23 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 27 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 0.5
2nd smallest1 · chance 2.8
3rd smallest8 · chance 5.0
4th smallest2 · chance 3.7
5th smallest1 · chance 0.9

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.1 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

4 39 47 1 2 9

Never drawn alongside 15 of the other 49 numbers; chance expects about 17 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 27 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 27 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
1998-10-23	7	3rd	13 20 27 28 33
1998-09-29	10	4th	1 8 18 27 38
1998-08-25	14	2nd	2 27 33 37 44
1998-07-07	8	3rd	5 9

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