Number 37

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

17times drawn · chance expected 17 −0.05σ

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

10.4average wait between appearances · chance says 10.0

31longest completed wait · 50% chance of one at least that long

37 is drawn as often as chance explains

Drawn 17 times in 172 draws against 17.2 expected, −0.05σ. Each draw is independent: after 1 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.

Number 37, draw by draw

Drawn 17 times in 172 draws · average wait 10.4 draws · longest completed wait 31 · 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 37 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 0.1
2nd smallest2 · chance 0.8
3rd smallest3 · chance 3.9
4th smallest9 · chance 7.4
5th smallest3 · chance 4.7

Every position’s lane →

The company it keeps

Seen most often with these — chance gives every partner about 1.4 shared draws, and the leaders are simply the ones that came out ahead this time.

42 2 23 34 44 1

Never drawn alongside 10 of the other 49 numbers; chance expects about 12 such strangers by now. Every pair →

How many people play it

Under the crowd model, 37 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 37 →

Every draw it appeared in

Date	Wait	Position	The draw
1999-01-08	31	5th	5 21 23 26 37
1998-09-22	2	2nd	1 37 43 44 45
1998-09-15	4	4th	11 26 30 37 38
1998-09-01	2	4th	9 23

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