Saturday, 12 May 2018

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (1, 6, 18, 23) with the draw of 28 October 2014 — its closest relative in 2,244 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 52% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (11 May 2018): 1 carried over. Chance says 53% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 77 — the 19th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 98. No two numbers side by side. 45% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

18 had not appeared for 13 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 1.8× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 1% of the jackpot.

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