Thursday, 1 March 2012

Its nearest twin

Shares 3 of 5 numbers (32, 35, 42) with the draw of 21 February 2011 — its closest relative in 690 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 99% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (29 February 2012): nothing carried over. Chance says 48% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 143 — the 89th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 110. No two numbers side by side. 40% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

35 had not appeared for 23 draws. A number waits about 9 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 0.5× as often as an average ticket — less popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 6% of the jackpot.

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