Thursday, 23 October 2014

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (3, 18, 26, 28) with the draw of 18 April 2012 — its closest relative in 1,651 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 77% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (22 October 2014): 6, 26 carried over. Chance says 63% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 81 — the 56th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 78. No two numbers side by side. 54% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

3 had not appeared for 23 draws. A number waits about 6 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 1.4× as often as an average ticket — more popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 0% of the jackpot.

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