Saturday, 17 May 2014

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (7, 9, 12, 19) with the draw of 15 January 2012 — its closest relative in 1,495 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 36% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (16 May 2014): nothing carried over. Chance says 52% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 51 — the 2th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 100. No two numbers side by side. 44% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

9 had not appeared for 23 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 2.9× 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.