Thursday, 5 February 2015

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (13, 15, 26, 29) with the draw of 1 February 2013 — its closest relative in 1,756 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 52% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (4 February 2015): nothing carried over. Chance says 55% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 87 — the 40th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 93. No two numbers side by side. 47% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

13 had not appeared for 25 draws. A number waits about 7 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 1.1× as often as an average ticket — about as popular as 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.