Thursday, 7 April 2011

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (14, 19, 24) with the draw of 21 December 2010 — its closest relative in 364 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 97% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (6 April 2011): nothing carried over. Chance says 51% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 120 — the 75th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 103. No two numbers side by side. 43% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

36 had not appeared for 17 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 0.8× as often as an average ticket — less popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 3% of the jackpot.

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