Number 33

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

18times drawn · chance expected 17 +0.20σ

6draws waiting · a wait this long: 59% for any number

9.1average wait between appearances · chance says 10.0

27longest completed wait · 68% chance of one at least that long

33 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 18 times in 172 draws against 17.2 expected, +0.20σ. Each draw is independent: after 6 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 33, draw by draw

Drawn 18 times in 172 draws · average wait 9.1 draws · longest completed wait 27 · waiting 6 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 33 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 smallest0 · chance 0.2
2nd smallest1 · chance 1.8
3rd smallest7 · chance 5.7
4th smallest5 · chance 7.2
5th smallest5 · chance 3.1

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.5 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

4 7 35 2 5 13

Never drawn alongside 15 of the other 49 numbers; chance expects about 11 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 33 is picked about 0.86× as often as an indifferent choice — 34th 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 above 31 ×0.86

The model and its sources → · What people believe about 33 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
1998-12-22	8	3rd	17 21 33 42 44
1998-11-24	9	4th	14 15 17 33 43
1998-10-23	2	5th	13 20 27 28 33
1998-10-16	15	5th	6 7

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